
I i 1 1 




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CDPSRIGICr DEPOSm 



CHRISTIAN LIFE SERIES 



Winning a Crown 

A Practical Treatise on How to Find God, 

What Salvation Is and Docs, and 

How to Live a Happy and 

Successful Christian Life 



By C. W. NAYLOR 



There is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, 
the righteous judge, shall give me at that day. — 2 Tim. 4:8 

So run that ye may obtain. — 1 Cor. 9:24. 



GOSPEL TRUMPET COMPANY 
Anderson, - - Indiana, U. S. A. 



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Copyright 1919, 

by 

Gospel Trumpet Company 



JUN 16 \m 

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Contents 



Preface 6 

A Introduction 8 

=^ What is Man? 11 

The True Purpose of Life 15 

The Moral State of Man 19 

^^', How to Find God 27 

^» Regeneration 39 

H, Regeneration — Continued 47 

The Christian Life 56 

'^ Native Depravity 66 

^ Entire Sanctification 75 

Entire Sanctification — Continued 91 

Christian Perfection 103 

The Sanctified Life 121 

Sin 134 

Sin — Continued 146 

Principles of Divine Law 161 

How to Walk to Please God 169 

Adorning the Doctrine 176 

Fellowship with God 181 

Human Fellowship 195 

The Transformation of Divine Energy 200 

Our Natural Propensities 206 

Our Natural Propensities — Continued 215 

Our Natural Propensities — Continued 231 

Meddling with the Scales 244 

Acceptable Service 255 

Providences and Circumstances 266 

Remaking Ourselves 274 

Faith 278 

Faith — Continued 294 

Spiritual Retrogression 307 

Backsliding and Fainting 312 

The Crucified Life 323 

Three Spiritual Elements 333 

Trials 341 

Trials — Continued 351 

How to Count 365 



Preface 

Life is a series of problems. None of these problems 
are of more importance than those which relate to the 
spiritual life. Upon their proper solution rests both 
our present and future happiness. It has been the 
author's purpose throughout this book to set forth in as 
practical a way as possible some of the things that he 
has learned in his twenty-five years of Christian life, 
the greater part of which has been spent in preaching 
and writing of the things of the kingdom of God. For 
the past nine years he has been a shut-in as the result 
of a serious injury^ but these years upon his bed, with 
Pain for his constant companion, have taught him many 
things that might have escaped him in the busy days of 
a more active life. 

The subject-matter of this treatise falls naturally into 
three parts. The first is intended to show men how to 
find God and enter into the enjoyment of true sonship 
with its attendant blessings. The second deals with 
some of the essential doctrines of the Christian faith 
from the standpoint of their practical bearing on human 
life. The third deals with problems that sooner or 
later present themselves to every Christian for his 
solution. Upon their correct solution hangs the pros- 
perity and happiness of his life. This part of the book 
will be to the Christian the richest and most beneficial 
of all. He may find herein an answer to many of his 
heart's questionings and a "lamp to his feet" in some of 

6 



Preface t 

life's dark hours. With a prayer that every reader 
may be enriched and that God may be glorified, the 
author commits his work to the public with the con- 
fident expectation that the divine blessing that has rested 
upon him in its preparation will follow it to bless its 
readers and inspire in their hearts fresh hope and cour- 
age to press on to win the crown waiting at life's goal. 

Yours in His joyful service, C. W. N. 

Anderson, Indiana, Sept. 13, 1918. 



Introduction 

The Christian life is not all sunshine and roses; 
neither is it all shadows and brambles. All our skies 
can not be cloudless ; neither can all our roses be with- 
out thorns. The pilgrim's way to the Celestial City 
does not lie across a low, flat plain; instead, it leads 
through a great variety of scenery. Now we walk a 
smooth way, sunlit and bright, with a splendid vista 
outspread before us. Further along we pass into the 
foothills and our pathway rises and falls. Now we 
stand upon the summit and feast our eyes on the broad 
expanse and the glowing hilltops around us, basking in 
the sunshine of noonday. Again we go slowly down 
into the valley and walk beside the still waters, amid 
the green grass, and breathe the air perfumed by the 
flowers and hear the carols of the birds as they merrily 
pass the hours. Farther along we have a bit of steep 
climbing, with perchance many stones along the way, 
and here and there a thornbush catches our garments 
and pricks our feet. Sometimes the way is toilsome, 
but presently we reach the top, and there in the clear 
air, under the dome of heaven, our souls are hushed 
and awed and filled with holy inspiration. 

Down from the mountain sooner or later we must 
go, sometimes over crags and where it seems no feet 
have trodden before us. With the outlook of the moun- 
tain-top left behind, our vision becomes narrow, and 
we make our way slowly and painfully down into the 

8 



Introduction 9 

darkened valley. There are shadows in the valley. 
Sometimes a great cloud sails overhead and the sun- 
light disappears. The bird-songs resound no more. 
The warmth is gone, and the chill of the evening comes 
on apace. The night falls; but the Celestial City lies 
still far away, and we must walk in the night as well 
as in the day. Sometimes then our footsteps falter. 
Sometimes strange shapes appear, and we hear voices 
that can not be interpreted, but we must walk on. When 
the daylight comes again, there is joy and sunshine 
once more. 

So is the journey of life — infinite in its variety. No 
matter how much of the old, there is always something 
new. No matter how much we understand, there is al- 
ways that which is mysterious. Whether upon the moun- 
tain or in the valley, whether by the silent waters or by 
the gushing waterfall, whether in the calm sunshine or 
in the beating storm, we must press ever onward. Now 
and then we may stand upon some mountain of trans- 
figuration and see all things illuminated with a heavenly 
glory and hear words impossible for man to utter. But 
we must come down from that mountain and go upon our 
way again. Sometimes we may catch a faint distant 
glimpse of the Celestial City, which is the goal of all our 
hopes ; but much of the time it will be beyond our vision, 
and much of the time we shall see only the ordinary 
things of every-day life. 

The path of life has, as it were, two sides — one bright 
and attractive; the other with its shadows, from which 
we instinctively shrink. But it takes both these to make 



10 Winning a Crown 

up life's pathway. As children of God, we are still 
human. And with others we must bear the things that 
belong to human life — its cares, its perplexities, its un- 
solved problems, its frailties, in fact, all those things 
which fall to the lot of other mortals. 

So it would seem best in this volume that I should walk 
upon the shadowy side of the path, rather than upon 
that which lies in the sunshine, if perchance the rays of 
my lantern shall fall upon some of the dark places and 
shall make the footsteps of the pilgrim more certain and 
help him to define some of those shadowy shapes that 
trouble him. The bright side of life needs no illumina- 
tion, and when the pilgrim walks through the sunshine 
on a plain path he needs no instructor, he needs no one 
to interpret life to him. It is when the shadows fall 
and perplexing things come, when he hears strange voices, 
and when he feels his need of counsel and of comfort, 
that he welcomes some one to interpret for him the things 
of life, and to point out a safe and sure pathway. And 
so, reader, I offer to walk with you through some of 
these places, and I trust that we shall be congenial com- 
panions and that at last we shall both safely reach the 
Celestial City and join the white-robed throng in ever- 
lasting praises before the Majesty that sitteth upon the 
throne eternal. 



WINNING A CROWN 



What is Man? 



We are surrounded by mysteries, and not the least of 
these is the mystery of our own being. "Whence did I 
come?" "Where am I going?" and — greatest mystery of 
all — "What am I?" are questions that have arisen again 
and again in the minds of many persons. If we try to 
solve the question. What am I? by our own understand- 
ing and reason, it remains but a question. There are 
within us the stirrings of strange emotions, a reaching 
out after things not seen, unutterable things that we can 
not interpret. Is man only a material being? Is he a 
beast of the field ? Was he created only to eat and drink 
and to enjoy material things? or is he something more 
and something higher, with relationships more profound 
and far-reaching than those of the mere material? 

The Psalmist viewed this question and exclaimed: 
"What is man, that thou art mindful of him? or the son 
of man, that thou visitest him ? For thou hast made him 
a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with 
glory and honor. Thou madest him to have dominion 
over the works of thy hands ; thou hast put all things 
under his feet" (Psa. 8:4-6). To him, man was some- 
thing more than an animal; he stood only a little lower 
than that celestial host that surrounds God's throne. And 
man is something more, something higher, indeed, than 

11 



12 Winning a Crown 

those creatures which are his servants in this time- 
world. When the Psalmist speaks of their death, he 
says, "Thou takest away their breath, they die, and 
return to their dust" (Psa. 124: 29). Of man it is said, 
"If he set his heart upon man, if he gather unto himself 
his spirit and his breath, . . . man shall turn again 
unto dust" (Job 34: 14, 15). Man is a trinity, possess- 
ing the spiritual, the mental, and the physical. He has 
a body like the animal, in its functions and desires. He 
has reason and intelligence, and, above and beyond all 
these, he has a moral nature. This he alone of all the 
inhabitants of earth possesses. And it is with this moral 
nature that man is most concerned. His life in this 
world is of few days and full of trouble, and all the races 
of man look forward confidently to another and higher 
and better life when this life has come to an end. 

Animals are creatures of instinct. They have im- 
planted in them certain primary elements of knowledge 
or consciousness that guide them where their intelli- 
gence does not reach. And man also has instincts, higher 
than those of the beast, but no less significant. He feels 
intuitively that there is a power above him which is 
greater than his own power. It takes no argument to 
convince him' of this, unless he has destroyed this pri- 
mary intuition through the subtilities of his reasoning. 
He is also conscious that he is responsible to this higher 
power; that in some way he has some relation with that 
power that gives moral value to his actions; and that 
these actions are worthy of the praise of this higher 
power or else merit retribution as being evil. He in- 



What is Man? 13 

stinctively places a moral value upon his conduct, and 
feels that somehow, somewhere he must give an account. 
He feels within him the stirrings of a life that is not 
merely animal life. He feels capabilities and powers 
which are undeveloped here and now, and to which he 
finds himself incapable of giving more than partial ex- 
pression ; and this consciousness speaks to him of a future 
life full of greatest possibilities. 

All these instincts have a substantial basis of reality. 
The squirrel that has never seen a winter is led by 
instinct to hoard a store of nuts for the days to come. 
The bird that knows nothing of climate save the sum- 
mer, wings its way in the autumn to a more genial 
climate, led by unerring instinct. The bird which has 
been reared in captivity in an artificial nest, if given its 
liberty will build a nest like those of its kind, though 
it has never been taught. These instincts do not mis- 
lead the unreasoning creatures. They are safe guides. 

Man's instinct is no less true, and if followed will 
guide him in the fundamentals of his life as it guides 
the lower creatures. Only man disregards these in- 
stincts. He deifies his reason, and it leads him in 
devious paths. He sets it up as the guide of his life 
and bows down and worships it, but alas ! how often it 
causes him to disregard that which the truest wisdom 
would lead him to value most highly ! How many peo- 
ple live as though they were only animals ! "Eat, drink, 
and be merry," say they. They neglect that higher 
and better self. They silence the voice of conscience. 
They shut their ears to God. They close their eyes to 



14 Winning a Crown 

their own knowledge. They live as though they were 
no better than the brute. They are concerned only 
with this world. They may recognize that there is a 
life beyond^ but how little do they consider it! 

Reader, you are more than a horse. There is in you 
that which is higher and better and nobler; and there 
is something better for you than to give your atten- 
tion, your time, and your powers for this world alone. 
As you consider yourself higher than the beast, so should 
your life be higher than his. I beg of you, consider. 
How much higher is it? Are you living for eternity, 
or does your life-plan reach only to the satisfying of 
your own temporary and temporal desires? 



The True Purpose of Life 

The Bible tells us that God created man and clearly 
implies that all the rest of the material creation of 
earth was for his benefit and for his use. But what 
purpose had God in creating man? Did God make him 
simply to gratify a desire to make something new? Is 
his existence the result of some mere whim? When 
God created him, did He expect to give him no farther 
attention? The Bible tells us plainly that God had 
a distinct purpose, and that his creation was for G^d's 
own purpose, not simply that man might exist. Speak- 
ing of man, he says, "The work of my hands, that I 
may be glorified" (Isa. 60:21). Again, he says, "For 
I have created him for my glory" (Isa. 43:7). 

That man was endowed with natural faculties that 
make it possible for him to know God and to communi- 
cate with him, to understand his will, and to obey him, 
and to find his highest pleasure in all these, shows 
that the purpose of man's life is something very exalted. 
It is possible for him to debase his powers, to put them 
to ignoble purposes, and to fail entirely of the true pur- 
pose of his life. He may develop his physical being 
and bring it to a high state of perfection, so that he is 
an athlete. He may be in perfect health. He may con- 
form to the laws of his physical being and be worthy 
of the admiration of his fellows. He may develop his 
mind until he reaches out into the starry heavens and 
reads the secrets of the planets. He may delve into 
philosophy and into science until his mental faculties 

15 • 



16 Winning a Crown 

are enriched and highly developed. He may grapple 
with the great problems of life and solve them. He 
may fill the chair of some great university. Men may 
marvel at his learning. He may be eloquent until he 
can sway the multitudes. He may rise to eminence in 
the political world and be famous. Men may admire 
and respect and honor him, but the perfect body and 
the highly developed mind, or these two united, do not 
make a perfect man. 

Sooner or later disease vrill seize upon that body. 
Sooner or later that mind will lose its brilliance and its 
power. The end is but the grave. What then? Shall 
we say that a man who has lived only for his body and 
for his mind has truly lived, has truly fulfilled the 
purpose of his creation? Not so. He has omitted from 
his life that which is highest and best. He has failed 
to develop that spiritual element which is his real self, 
that element which will live on forever. He has starved 
and neglected it, and it has withered away, overshad- 
owed by the other parts of his being. If a man forgets 
his soul, if he makes no preparation for the life that is 
life indeed, there is no symmetry in his life. It is 
unbalanced and incomplete. No matter what his suc- 
cess in other lines, his life is a failure. No matter 
how much wealth he may amass, how much he may 
win, nor how much of anything of earth may be his, it 
must end with the word "failure," for he has not lived 
for God. He was created for God's glory, but how 
much has his life subserved that glory? Has he hon- 
ored God? Has he served him? Has he fitted himself 



The True Purpose of Life 17 

for his society in the world to come? The man who 
fails to develop his mind and then is brought into the 
society of men of learning feels at once and feels most 
keenly how he has neglected himself and how hampe|*ed 
he is in his associations with them, how unfit he is to 
enjoy their society, and how little such society can 
really mean to him. So the man who neglects his spiri- 
tual life, when he shall have come into the presence of 
God will find himself wholly unfit to mingle in the 
society of heaven. His soul- faculties will not be able 
to respond to the influences of that place. In fact, it 
would be torment to him to be there and constantly feel 
his unfitness. 

There is but one true purpose in life. All other 
things are subsidiary to it. If we fill our life with trifles, 
with things that amount to nothing, shall we not reap 
the trifler's reward? God desires our services. He de- 
sires union with us. He desires to be honored and wor- 
shiped by us — not simply for some selfish interest; for 
when we give to him that which belongs to him, we do 
for ourselves that which is best and highest. And when 
we refuse to give him that which belongs to him and that 
which he has a right to expect of us, we are injuring our- 
selves and are placing barriers before our own souls. 
We are destroying our own selves. 

Reader, what is the purpose of your life? What is 
your life amounting to? Are you spending it for God? 
Are you developing your soul, your spiritual faculties 
and powers? What will your life profit you if you are 
not? Shall you endure the things of this life, its cares, 



18 Winning a Crown 

its sorrows^ its heartaches, toil on till its end, only to 
have "Failure" written over it at the last? Be wise. 
God has given you intelligence. Use it for his glory. 
Neglect not your soul, that priceless treasure which must 
somewhere spend eternity, the eternity for which you 
arc now preparing it. 



The Moral State of Man 

Back in the world's springtime, when nature was 
dressed in her pristine glory, God said, "Let us make 
man in our image, after our likeness" (Gen. 1:26). 
Of nothing else of his creation is this said. Man is 
marked out as separate and distinct from all the rest 
of creation. He is of the creation, but rises to a higher 
plane, and possesses a something seen in nothing else. 
We read further, "So God created man in his own 
image, in the image of God created he him; male and 
female created he them" (Gen. 1:27). This was not 
a physical image and likeness, for such it could not 
be, inasmuch as God is not physical and does not pos- 
sess physical organs. It must, then, relate to his mental 
and moral being. In reason, judgment, choice, con- 
science, etc., he is in God's image, but we are concerned 
at present only with his attribute of holiness. As he 
came from the hand of God he was pure and holy. 
There was not in him a single element of defilement. 
God looked upon him and pronounced him very good, 
and was well pleased. The wise man, speaking of man's 
original state, says, "Lo, this only have I found, that 
God hath made man upright" (Eccl. 7: 29). 

It was as natural for him- to love God as to love any- 
thing else. He was blameless, and though without ex- 
perience he could readily yield himself to all God's will. 
There was no barrier between himself and God. There 
was no hindrance to fellowship and intercourse. His 
pure soul shrank not from God. He knew no fear, but 

19 



20 Winning a Crown 

in the presence of his Maker walked as a son with his 
father. What halcyon days were those ! But alas ! that 
happy state did not continue. One thing had been pro- 
hibited. That prohibition was violated, and in conse- 
quence a cloud overspread the heavens. His conscience 
knew for the first time the sense of guilt and shame. 
The sweet, sympathetic fellowship between his soul and 
God was broken. He trembled and shrank in fear. 
His innocence was gone — that greatest charm, that 
which endeared him to the Father-heart. Then fol- 
lowed a life of sin, and when he begat a son, the child 
was in his father's own image. From that time on the 
current of human life has been a dark and murky stream. 

Some tell us that man has never fallen, that he is 
now in as high a position as he has ever occupied in 
the moral scale. This, however, is contrary to the 
Scriptures, as well as to reason. When we look at his 
present condition and compare that with what the Bible 
shows him to have been at his creation, we rather mar- 
vel that he has fallen so far. The Bible deals with him 
everywhere as a fallen creature, one who is corrupt and 
defiled. Thus the record expresses it: "And God looked 
upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh 
had corrupted his way upon the earth" (Gen. 6: 12). 
God manifested his displeasure by destroying the old 
world. 

The posterity of Noah traveled the same path. Hosea, 
viewing the situation in his day, exclaimed, "They have 
deeply corrupted themselves" (Hos. 9:9). So the cur- 
rent flows on. Paul draws a dark picture in the first 



The Moral State of Man 21 

chapter of Romans and elsewhere. It is true that man 
did not lose all. There is in him yet some elements of 
nobility, some godlike qualities; but these are, as it 
were, only a few good things that have survived the 
wreck of his life. And when God looks upon him, he 
sees not one holy element; and when he begins to make 
something of him, he must begin at the beginning and 
make of him a new creature. 

The Motive Purpose of His> Life 

Man's character is the opposite of God's. God is es- 
sentially benevolent; man is essentially selfish. The 
natural man does not inquire what is the will of God 
regarding him. He is not concerned in pleasing God. 
The thing that he desires most of all is to please himself. 
If he may do this, he asks nothing more. He lives for 
this alone. If he may but gratify all his own desires, 
he asks for nothing more. He does not believe that he 
is moved by such a motive ; he does not stop to consider 
it. In fact, he is likely to suppose that he is moved by 
very different considerations. God says, "Yea, they 
have chosen their own ways, and their soul delighteth in 
their abominations" (Isa. 66: 3). Again he says, "They 
hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of ^,he 
Lord: they would none of my counsel: they despised all 
my reproof" (Prov. 1:29, 30). 

His Attitude Toward God 

Man ordinarily supposes that he is on quite friendly 
terms with God, at least so far as his own feelings are 



22 Winning a Crown 

concerned. He looks upon the law of God and recog- 
nizes it as a very high and worthy law. He assents 
that man should give to it a ready obedience. Very 
often he is pleased to see others turn from sin to right- 
eousness. Like Paul, he may delight in the law of God 
after the inward man. He may approve of it as being 
most excellent. He may even praise it most highly. He 
may sit in the congregation of the righteous and find 
much pleasure in listening to the Word of God. There 
may be many things in it that he is glad to see reflected 
in his own life; but when it comes to submitting himself 
to this law and making it the law of his life and con- 
forming himself to it in detail, another element imme- 
diately asserts itself. He finds at once a great reluc- 
tance, and if pressed, this reluctance shows itself in 
rebellion. So long as he can do just as he likes and still 
fulfil the Word of God, he is pleased to do so. As long 
as his desires run parallel with the desires of God, he 
delights in that law; but when his desires are crossed, 
when he is required to forego them, he at once rebels. 
And the more God's claims are pressed upon him, the 
more determined does his rebellion become. 

His obedience, so far as he does obey, is essentially 
selfish. He obeys only because it pleases him to obey. 
Paul, speaking to the Colossians, tells them their for- 
mer state, saying, "You . . . were sometime alienated 
and enemies in your mind by wicked works" (Col. 1 : 21). 
To the Romans he says, "We were enemies" (Rom. 
5: 10). Speaking of the unregenerate, he says that they 
are "haters of God" (Rom. 1:30). This is the verdict 



The Moral State of Man 28 

of God. He knows the true state of their hearts. His 
verdict is true and it is final. There is no element in 
the sinful man that is truly friendly toward God, at 
least before his heart begins to yield to God. He is 
everywhere pictured as a rebel, one who has defied the 
authority of God and is standing in open hostility to 
him. And this, unless he repents, will be his attitude 
through life, and through the ceaseless ages of eter- 
nity. The best unsaved man is not at heart better than 
this. 

God's Attitude Toward the Sinner 

But what is God's attitude toward unregenerate man.^ 
It has been said that God hates sin, but he loves the 
sinner. Is this true.'' Let us hear the voice of inspira- 
tion, "Thou hatest all the workers of iniquity. . . . 
The Lord will abhor the bloody and deceitful man" (Psa. 
5:5, 6). Does that express an attitude of affection? 
Again, we read, "The wicked and him that loveth vio- 
lence his soul hateth. Upon the wicked he shall rain 
snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest: 
this shall be the portion of their cup. For the righteous 
Lord loveth righteousness" (Psa. 11:5-7). Read also 
the following texts: Lev. 20:23; 26:30; Deut. 32:19. 
We read further, "God is angry with the wicked every 
day" (Psa. 7: 11). God is not so meek and indulgent 
that nothing will arouse his indignation. He hates all 
that is hateful. He could not love righteousness with- 
out hating iniquity. He could not love the righteous 
without hating the wicked. To love both would be to 



24 Winning a Crown 

abolish all moral distinctions. Of the impenitent sin- 
ner it is said, "The wrath of God abideth on him" 
(John 3: 36). We are not to understand that God hates 
the sinner as an individual apart from his sins and his 
sinful disposition. It is only sin that renders him hate- 
ful, but man is responsible for his state of sinfulness 
and chooses to be what he knows he ought not to be; 
therefore to deal with the sin God must deal with the 
man. 

Not only does God hate man's sin, every sinful word, 
thought, and deed, but he also hates every evil desire. 
The natural man loves evil. That love of evil, which is 
a part of his nature, God abhors. All desire that runs 
out after impurity or for that which is unholy merits 
and excites God's indignation and abhorrence. Every 
evil ambition that arises in his soul repels God. Every 
evil disposition, every evil feeling, hatred, envy, malice, 
revenge, selfishness, pride, jealousy, deceit, hypocrisy, 
and all the long catalog of evil things, of which man's 
heart is the source, are obnoxious to God. All tendency 
to resist the Holy Spirit, or to array oneself against the 
will of God, all rebellion at his providences, can excite 
in God only hatred. How often man rejects his own 
reason and stifles his conscience ! How often he hardens 
his heart ! Can God love the thing in him that causes 
him to do this ? He can love only what is lovable ; and 
only what is pure and holy can appear lovable to a holy 
God. All else he hates and must hate with all the 
strength of his character. 

Sinner, look this squarely in the face. Your self- 



The Moral State of Man 25 

complacency may suffer, your conscience may be troub- 
led, your fears may be aroused, but the picture is not 
overdrawn. Look over it again carefully. Look at 
yourself in the mirror of God's Word, and think what 
it means to have God for your enemy. Think what it 
will mean before the great judgment-seat, think what 
it will mean in eternity, and turn from your sins before 
the day of wrath. 

God is just and can treat sin and the sinner only as 
justice demands, or at least can not go contrary to those 
demands. He is also merciful and loving. And his 
attitude toward the sinner, an attitude different from 
that just considered, is expressed thus: "For God so 
loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, 
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but 
have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into 
the world to condemn the world; but that the world 
through him might be saved" (John 3: 16, 17). Again, 
we read, "For thou. Lord, art good, and ready to for- 
give; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call 
upon thee. Thou art ... a God full of compassion, 
and gracious, long-suffering, and plenteous in mercy" 
(Psa. 86: 5, 15). God is so full of love that John calls 
him love. He is "our Father which art in heaven." His 
mercy endureth forever. He loves the sinner. "While 
we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." God loves men 
because they are his sons, the work of his own creative 
power, even though they have gone astray. He loves 
them because of his own benevolence; he loves them 
because of the sacrifice he has made for them. He loves 



26 Winning a Crown 

all the lovable qualities that he sees in them. He loves 
all the possibilities for good and nobility and holiness, 
and he pities them as "a father pitieth his children." 
And so God's hand of mercy is outstretched toward sin- 
ners. His heart yearns over them. He invites them to 
come back from their wanderings, to turn away from 
their sins, and holds out to them the promise of a full 
pardon and a glorious reconciliation. 

These two widely different attitudes God holds toward 
every sinner. So long as the sinner is impenitent, love 
can not reach him, and mercy can not save; but as soon 
as the heart is softened into penitence and turns away 
from self to God, a welcome awaits him, the arms of 
love enfold him, and the past is all forgiven. God does 
not desire to hate the sinner. He is compelled to do 
so. But as soon as the sinner gives him opportunity by 
changing his attitude toward God from rebellion to 
submission, God changes his attitude toward him into 
one of tenderest love and pity. 



How to Find God 

The prodigal has wandered far ; he is in a strange 
land. Things there are not as they are in Father's 
house. As long as he is satisfied in this strange country, 
the charms of home appeal to him but little. Before 
the sinner can find God he must, as the prodigal of old, 
come to himself. He must realize what his situation 
means. He must become conscious of his true state as 
a sinner. He must see his sins in their naked reality; 
and he has only to see them so to abhor them. The 
pleasures of sin may satisfy for a season. His heart 
may have no longing after God; but when he comes to 
himself, he begins to think of better things. Sin loses 
its attraction. He begins to eat the bitter bread of 
remorse. He thinks of the outraged father, and there 
arises in his heart a desire for reconciliation. He is 
conscious that he has transgressed, that he has deeply 
wounded the paternal love. He is deeply conscious of 
the fact that he deserves nothing better of the Father 
than permanent rejection. The language of his heart is, 
"I am no more worthy to be called thy son." 

No man can ever find God who does not first become 
thoroughly dissatisfied with his own condition; for so 
long as he is satisfied in sin, he has no desire to be recon- 
ciled to God, he does not wish to be in God's presence. 
But when once he begins to abhor his sin, and to desire 
to be something better than he is, he instinctively turns 
Godward, and says, "I will arise and go to my Father." 
Reconciliation with God is not hard to obtain if there be 

27 



28 Winning a Crown 

first this turning away from sin and self. But without 
it there can never be peace. There can be no salvation 
while there remains self-satisfaction or rebellion. 

Seeking God 

It is not hard to become a Christian. It is not difficult 
to find God. The difficult part is to leave self and to 
gain the consent of mind and heart to begin the seeking. 
God is not far away. We do not need to take a long 
journey to find him. He "is nigh unto them that are of 
a broken heart" (Psa. 34:18). Yea, he is "not far 
from every one of us" (Acts 17: 27), and he has said, 
"Seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened 
unto you. For every one . . . that seeketh findeth" 
(Luke 11:9, 10). There is, however, a way in which 
we must seek in order to be successful. We must not 
seek carelessly nor indifferently. "But if . . . thou 
shalt seek the Lord thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou 
seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul" (Deut. 
4:29). 

God never hides himself from those who seek him 
with right desires and pure purposes. The seeker 
should come humbly and simply and trustingly. He 
should come as one who expects to find, and, having 
found the desire of his heart, to turn back no more to 
his former life. 

But if we desire to find God, we must seek for him 
where he is. The prodigal would have sought long 
and vainly for his father in the land wherein he was 
a prodigal. Knowing this, he said, "I will arise and 



Horn to Find God 29 

go to my father." So we must arise and go from the 
land of our sinful service, from the country of our evil 
master. God is not to be found there. In vain do we 
look for him there. He is not found in the way of 
earthly pleasure. So long as our hearts and affections 
are set upon the things of this world, so long as we care 
for them, we can not find God. It is only when we 
turn to him with our whole hearts and with a full pur- 
pose to serve him that we can find him. 

Sometimes people desire to be Christians, and they 
make up their minds that they are going to do better. 
That is their thought of being a Christian — just doing 
better. But that is not enough; there must be something 
more than that. How can a man who is evil do good.'* 
Nor is it enough to join with people who are Christians, 
or who are professing to be Christians. We may unite 
with some organization of people called a church, but 
that of itself may not make us either better or worse. 
Turning over a new leaf and taking up new habits, be- 
coming interested in church work and various benevo- 
lences, will never bring us to God. Our souls must be- 
come hungry for him. We must desire him more than 
anything else and search for him until we find him. 
That is the one thing — we must find God. We must 
become his. We must have a new life, new purposes, 
and a new relationship with God. This demands a 
severance of old relations, a forsaking of the old habits 
and life, of the old ways and desires. Do not suppose 
that you can find God as your Savior unless you turn 



so Winning a Crown 

to him with your whole heart, giving up once and for 
all time everything that displeases him. He will not 
be a partner with you in anything that is unholy; there- 
fore all that is unholy must be given up. 

God has said, "Let the wicked forsake his way, and 
the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return 
unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and 
to our God, for he will abundantly pardon" (Isa. 55: 7). 
These are God's terms, and he will not change them. 
David said, "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Ldrd 
will not hear me" (Psa. 66: 18). God tells us the result 
if we seek him while we still hold to sin. "When ye 
spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from 
you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear" 
(Isa. 1: 15). What, then, must we do? His answer is, 
"Put away the evil of your doings from before mine 
eyes; cease to do evil" (ver. 16). If we will do this, 
the gracious promise is given, "Though your sins be as 
scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they 
be red like crimson, they shall be as wool" (ver. 18). 
As long as the soul clings to one sin, it can not find God. 
All must be forsaken. The old life must have "Finis" 
written under it. When we fully turn from sin, then, 
and then only, can we turn to God. We are told to 
reckon ourselves dead indeed unto sin. If we do this, 
our relation to it will be the same as that of a literally 
dead man to the activities of this life. Sin must end 
before righteousness can begin. 



How to Find God 81 

Repentance 

God's message to sinners has always been that they 
should repent. This was the burden of the message 
of the Prophets, of John the Baptist, and of the Son 
of God when he came, as it has been the message through 
the ages. But what is repentance.'' In its practical 
sense as respecting the sinner, it means regret or sor- 
row for sin, accompanied by a turning away from sin. 
The word sometimes means no more than a change of 
mind, but in the true evangelical sense it means some- 
thing more than this — not only a change of mind, but 
much besides. It means that change accompanied by 
or produced by real sorrow for sin, that godly sor- 
row which works repentance and leads to salvation. 

One of the most important points involved in this 
subject is the direction in which repentance acts, or the 
object toward which it acts. Much repentance is es- 
sentially selfish in its nature. Sometimes people grow 
very sorry because of what they have done when they 
see the effects upon themselves. When they see dis- 
ease brought upon their bodies and realize that they 
are languishing under its touch because of what they 
have done, they are filled with regret. The prisoner 
behind the bars often is repentant because he is suffer- 
ing punishment. He is sorry for what he has done, but 
sorry only because of its effects upon himself. Sin often 
brings shame, and this shame is not easily borne, and 
often brings self-reproaches and sorrow, not because 
the evil was done, but because of the fruit of that evil. 



S2 Winning a Crown 

All such repentance is essentially selfish. It leads to 
no change in the individual, in his attitude toward God, 
nor in God's attitude toward him. He may have wronged 
friends and later may come to feel very bad over hav- 
ing done so; he may wish that he had the opportunity 
to change matters and would be glad if he had not done 
as he did. In this case his friends are the object of his 
repentance. Any effectual repentance must have God 
for its object. It must be directed toward him. The 
individual must be genuinely repentant because he has 
wronged God. He must look at his sins from God's 
standpoint, not from his own. He must consider that 
he has wronged God, that he has transgressed his law; 
and he must consider the character of God — how infinite- 
ly just and holy he is and how exceedingly wrong has 
been his conduct in thus breaking the holy law of that 
holy God. It is only when he views his sins from this 
standpoint that he can have any adequate idea of their 
deserts, and only then can he have any proper idea of 
his own guilt and his own need of repentance. 

Repentance implies a turning away from sin with a 
full purpose never to repeat the sinful deeds. Anything 
that does not produce such a result is not real repentance. 
Those who claim to have repented and still go on in 
their sinful ways, doing what pleases them rather than 
what pleases God, have never truly repented; for if 
one is truly sorry for sin, is truly sorry that he has 
grieved God, he will once and forever turn away from 
doing such a thing. God says, "Let the wicked for- 
sake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts." 



How to Find God SS 

That is an essential part of repentance, and if omitted, 
the repentance can not be unto salvation. 

God says that the wicked shall "give again that which 
he hath robbed" (Ezek. 33: 15). One characteristic of 
true repentance is the disposition of the individual to 
repair the injuries that he has done others, so far as 
it lies in his power. If he has stolen from' another, he 
desires no longer to have that property in his possession. 
If we have taken from our fellow man by fraud or in 
any other way things that were his, the things are still 
his, and if we truly repent, we shall feel an earnest and 
sincere desire in our souls to restore them. Repentance 
that leaves the individual in possession of that which 
has been wrongfully gotten, is not genuine repentance, 
for genuine repentance wants to make right any wrong 
that has been done. It takes no argument to convince 
any one who really repents that he ought to confess to 
those whom he has wronged and to make restitution to 
them to the extent of his ability and opportunity. The 
thousands of professors of religion who have things in 
their possession that are not theirs will have a hard task 
getting inside the pearly gates, as they have now a hard 
task of convincing those who know of the factss that 
they are true Christians. It is not enough to be sorry 
that we have done wrong; we must go far enough to be 
thoroughly sorry that we have that which is not ours, 
so sorry that we will not.. keep it. It is just as truly 
natural for the penitent sinner to make his wrongs right 
and to. ask the forgiveness of those wronged and to 



34 Winning a Crown 

make thorough confession as it is for his soul to reach 
out after God's mercy. 

Having truly repented, the soul is then upon the 
threshold of God's mercy and can reach out expectantly 
to find him. 

Submission 

The sinner is a rebel against God. He has lived in 
open rebellion all his sinful days ; but if he will find God, 
if he will be reconciled to him, then he must submit 
himself to God in whole-hearted surrender. "Submit 
yourselves therefore to God" (Jas. 4:7). Self has 
been the king upon the throne of the heart. Self must 
be dethroned. All its rule must be overthrown, its gov- 
ernment entirely demolished. Christ must be enthroned; 
he must be above all and through all. His will must 
be law. The soul must yield true allegiance to him. 
It must yield glad and full obedience. He must be 
supreme and the soul rejoice to have it so. The yield- 
ing must be not only a passive submission, but an active 
submission. It is good if we shall say, "Not my will, 
but thine, be done." But this is not enough. We must 
dedicate ourselves to the fulfilment of his will, to the 
task of carrying out his will. "I delight to do thy will" 
is the language of the submitted heart. 

We are not fully surrendered so long as we require 
one condition. Christ can not be master so long as we 
offer terms. Our surrender must be unconditional, or it 
is not real. Here is where many fail. They have their 
way mapped out before them, and have their ideas of 



How to Find God 35 

just what kind of Christians they want to be and what 
they want to do. That leaves them the masters, and if 
their terms were accepted, they would never be submis- 
sive. Some will not yield to God lest he should call 
them to preach; others, lest they should have to be mis- 
sionaries, leave home, testify, pray in public, or do some 
similar thing. Others have plans that they wish to carry 
out, or things which they desire to continue in, such as 
dancing, taking part in worldly amusements, and the 
like. God will let us have a form of godliness, if that 
is what we want, and he may let us be pretty well 
satisfied with it, even if we are not really surrendered; 
but if it is real salvation that we want, that is to be had 
only on condition of an absolute surrender so far as we 
can understand what that means. We must throw away 
our maps and plans, and say: "Here I am. Lord, body, 
mind, and soul. All I am or ever shall be is thine unre- 
servedly forever. Not my will, but thine, be done." 
This must be said, not with the lips alone, but from the 
heart's remotest depths. This, and this alone, is sur- 
render. This is real submission, and this is one of the 
steps in finding God, 

Believing 

fn reply to the jailer's question, "What must I do 
to be saved }" Paul and Silas said, "Believe on the Lord 
Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved" (Acts 16:31). 
Faith is the hand that reaches out to God and lays hold 
upon him through his promises. Without it we can not 
find God; without it we can not be saved from our 



36 Winning a Crown 

sins ; but by believing we may be saved. There are, how- 
ever, two kinds of believing, and both are necessary to 
our salvation. Jesus said to the Jews, "If ye believe 
not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins" (John 8: 24). 
Many people believe in Christ as a historical character, 
as a great and glorious teacher, even the Son of God; 
but that faith affects nothing for their salvation. It is, 
however, the ground of the other and more important 
faith. We "must believe that he is, and that he is a re- 
warder of them that diligently seek him" (Heb. 11:6). 
Many people believe in Christ who never receive him as 
their Savior. We must not only believe in him, but 
believe on him, that is, confidently rely upon him for 
our salvation, trusting him to forgive our sins and make 
us all that he has promised to make us. Believing is no 
hard thing. It is not something that is strained, not 
something that is forced. It is something that operates 
naturally and easily. The soul that has done what has 
already been noted under the previous steps, is in a 
position to rely upon Christ for his salvation; that is, 
to confidently trust in him that he does now save him. 
It requires no effort of will, no straining to do this; 
it is natural, just as natural as breathing. 

He has said, "Him that cometh to me I will in no 
wise cast out" (John 6:37). Is this true, or is it false? 
If it is true, then it is true for you, and for every one 
else who will come' to him in the way of his truth. His 
promise is, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and 
just to forgive us our sins" (l- John 1:9). Is this true.^ 
If it is true for any one, it is true for you. Just simply 



How to Find God S7 

believe it, and you will know that his word is true; you 
will within you have the consciousness of that fact. But 
until you do believe it, that is, until you accept it not 
only as being true but as being true for you, it will count 
nothing. But when you do so accept it, it will count all, 
and you will find that your soul reaches out and finds 
God true and knows him for itself. 

Assurance 

Belief brings assurance. Peter said, "We believe and 
are sure" (John 6:69). Effectual faith, that is, faith 
that reaches out and appropriates God's promises for 
salvation, brings to the heart a knowledge of the for- 
giveness of sin. We are not left to uncertainty as some 
suppose. John says, "He that believeth on the Son of 
God hath the witness in himself" (1 John 5: 10). What 
is this witness.'' Paul tells us in Gal. 4:6 — "And be- 
cause ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his 
Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father." The work 
of the Spirit in witnessing is stated in Rom. 8: 16 — 
"The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that 
we are the children of God." 

The Christian has a twofold witness of his acceptance 
with G^d. First, this witness of the Spirit, who testifies 
to him of his acceptance. This is the voice of God him- 
self to the soul. It speaks in the believer's inner con- 
sciousness in language that can not be misunderstood. 
He knows that he is God's child. He realizes from the 
testimony of that sacred Spirit that the work of God 
has been wrought and that he is now a child of the 



38 Winning a Crown 

divine Father. He is no more a rebel, but a son. Sec- 
ondly, there is that inner consciousness known and 
realized as any other definite fact of human experience. 
He knows that he is no more what he was; he knows 
that he is no more a rebel against God, but is at peace 
with him. He no longer feels the guilt of his sin. He 
is conscious that a great change has taken place. Every 
one who truly becomes a Christian, has this inner con- 
sciousness that he is God's. This is a sure product of 
saving grace. 

This twofold witness within our souls continues as long 
as our faith continues. Only doubts can silence its 
voice. When faith fails, the voice of this testimony be- 
comes weakened and finally silenced. It is dependent 
upon faith, and as long as we believe we may expect its 
testimony; but we must believe in order to retain this 
glorious realization of divine sonship. John was very 
positive in his knowledge and assertion on this point. 
He said, "We know that we have passed from death 
unto life" (1 John 3: 14). Again, he says, "We know 
that we are of God" (1 John 5:19). In every case, 
however, saving faith must precede this witnessing, and 
saving faith must always accompany it^ or it is made 
void. 



Regeneration 

The Bible does not observe the hair-splitting methods 
and fine theological distinctions of either modern or an- 
cient theologians. These methods may be necessary to 
philosophic study; but when we interpret the Bible by 
them, we narrow it down and lose its real significance. 
It speaks many times in broad generalizations. Often 
the thing meant is broader than the term used. Some- 
times part is put for ally sometimes all is put for part; 
and we have need to use our judgment and intelligence 
most carefully in order to arrive at the true meaning. 
This is true of the subject of Regeneration. For the 
work of God's grace in saving the sinner from his guilt, 
there are many terms, most of which respectively apply 
strictly to only one particular phase of the work, but 
which, because of their necessary connection in opera- 
tion and in time with other parts of the work, are used 
to represent the whole. As instances of this the fol- 
lowing may be noted: Redemption — "Ye know that ye 
were not redeemed with corruptible things . . . but 
with the precious blood of Christ" (1 Pet. 1:18, 19). 
Forgiveness — "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and 
just to forgive us our sins" (1 John 1:9). The new 
birth — "Ye must be born again" (John 3:7). "That 
which is bom of the flesh is flesh; and that which is 
born of the Spirit is spirit" (ver. 6). Reconciliation — 
"God who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, 
and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; to 
wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto 

39 



40 Winning a Crown 

himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them" 
(2 Cor. 5:18, 19). Isaiah thus expresses this recon- 
ciliation: "Though thou wast angry with me, thine 
anger is turned away, and thou comfortedst me" (chap. 
12: 1). Adoption — "That we might receive the adop- 
tion of sons" (Gal. 4: 5). We "have received the Spirit 
of adoption whereby we cry, Abba, Father" (Rom. 8:15). 
All these are but differing phases of the one great 
work of divine grace. By this means we are brought 
nigh unto God. We are made his dear children; we 
partake of his Spirit, of his love, of his goodness, and 
we rejoice in him with "joy unspeakable and full of 
glory." 

Sonship 

Of all the wonderful and gracious promises of God, 
none are more wonderful nor more gracious than his 
promise of fatherhood. "Wherefore come out from 
among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and 
touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and 
will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and 
daughters, saith the Lord Almighty" (2 Cor. 6: 17, 18). 
John says, "Behold what manner of love the Father 
hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the 
sons of God" (1 John 3:1). What infinite condescen- 
sion that God should permit us who were once so sinful 
and ffle to bear his name, to be called the sons of God, 
and not simply to be called the sons of God, but actually 
to be such, for John says in the next verse, "Now are 
we the sons of God." Jesus said to the wicked Phar- 



Regeneration 41 

isees, "Ye are of your father the devil" (John 8:44); 
but "now are we the sons of God." What a marvelous 
change ! How glorious the thought — the sons of the 
Most High ! And now that we are sons, we can say 
in the language of our Lord, "Our Father who art in 
heaven." This is then to us not mere words, but the 
outpouring of our hearts, the answering of our spirits 
to his. 

Have you not heard prayers beginning somewhat as 
follows: "All-wise and Almighty God, maker of heaven 
and earth" .^ We may speak to God in such formal 
language, but we can never draw close to him in this 
way. The great God, the Creator, the Mighty One who 
inhabiteth Eternity, he who stretched out the heavens 
and placed their galaxies, he whose splendor and maj- 
esty are too great for human vision — what can we do 
before such a one but fall down in awe and fear. It 
is not such a one that we can love, in whose presence we 
can come with rejoicing and to whom we can make 
known our petitions; but it is to "our Father who art 
in heaven" that we can come, before whom we can bow 
and up into whose face we can look and make known our 
wants. It is he whom we can love; it is he to whom we 
may come boldly in every time of need to receive help 
and grace and mercy. 

When a king sits upon the throne, who may approach 
him familiarly? All must recognize his majesty and his 
honor; but when he comes down off the throne and goes 
into the nursery, the children may play about his knees 
and climb upon his lap and put their arms about his 



42 Winning a Crown 

neck and caress him and receive his caresses in return. 
To them, he is not the King, he is not His Majesty; he 
is Father. Such God would be to you and me. He 
wants to be our Father; he will be our Father; he is our 
Father. He wants to bestow upon us all the affection 
and tenderness that a father feels for his dear children. 
This is the relation into which we are brought when we 
become his sons. All the riches of his love will he lavish 
upon us, all the tenderness of his fatherly affection. 
We may approach him with the utmost confidence and 
the utmost freedom. He loves for us to pour out our 
hearts in tender devotion to him. He loves to know what 
troubles us. He loves to minister comfort and help to 
us in all our needs. 

Can our hearts today say "Our Father" instead of 
"Almighty God".'* He is the Almighty God, and as such 
we reverence and adore and fear him. But he is still 
our Father and we draw near, forgetting his majesty 
and greatness in the realization of his loving-kindness. 
"I will be a father unto you," he said. Whatever he 
may be to others, whatever terrors his presence may 
inspire in them, whatever fears they may have, it shall 
not be so with us, for he is our Father and we are the 
children of his love. 

The New Heart 

"From all your filthiness, and from all your idols, 
will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, 
and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take 
away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give 



Regeneration 43 

you an heart of flesh" (Ezek. 36:25, 26). The heart 
of the sinner is truly stony, and especially in its atti- 
tude toward God. How often the same is true in regard 
to its attitude toward man's fellow creatures. The story 
of this world is largely made up of what has been termed 
"man's inhumanity to man" — unspeakable cruelties 
bringing oceans of tears, hatred of God and of his 
creatures. Yes, man's heart is naturally a stony heart. 
But God promises here to take away that stony heart 
and give a heart of flesh, even a new heart. What a 
change this expresses ! Out of the natural heart flows 
a stream of wickedness, vile and degrading. It is a 
very fountain of iniquity. As Jeremiah declares, it is 
"desperately wicked." But regeneration changes all 
this, and God gives, as he has promised, a heart of flesh. 

Jesus said, "A good man out of the good treasure 
of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil 
man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things" 
(Matt. 12:35). According to this, the difference be- 
tween a good man and an evil man is in the condition 
of his heart. A good man's heart is like a treasure-house 
filled with good things, which he brings out in the acts 
of his life; whereas of the evil man, the opposite is 
true: he has an evil treasure, out of which flows an evil 
life. "For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, mur- 
ders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blas- 
phemies" (chap. 15:19). 

In order for the evil man to become good, there must 
of necessity be a change in the condition of that treas- 
ure of his heart. And so the Lord said, "I will give 



44 Winning a Crown 

you a new heart." This signifies an entire renovation of 
the heart — a new creation, as it were, in Christ Jesus. 
Out of this new heart flows new life. Instead of im- 
purity, there comes forth purity. Instead of hatred for 
God, there is love of God and of all that is good. The 
new heart is a heart of pity, kindness, compassion, and 
sympathy. The old hard feelings are gone, the old 
cruelties are now no more; and there comes into the 
life a tenderness and a gentleness never known there 
before. The whole aspect of the life is altered because 
he is altered. He no longer loves anything that is evil; 
he loves instead that which is good, pure, holy, noble, 
and uplifting. His desires are to do right, to please 
God, and to be a real example of his grace before his 
fellows. 

This same truth Jesus set forth when he said that a 
good tree could not bring forth corrupt fruit. If the 
life that flows from our hearts when we profess to be 
Christians is not a pure, godly, virtuous life, it is be- 
cause there has not been a cleansing of that inner foun- 
tain. In vain do we try to live right until we are made 
right; but when we are once cleansed within, when once 
the fountain of our heart is purified, we can then live 
"soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world" 
(Tit. 2: 12). God dwells in that new heart. It is the 
place of his sanctuary — the place in which he delights 
to manifest himself, and out from which he speaks 
through our tongues, and looks in kindness through our 
eyes, and spreads forth his hand through us in pity 
and compassion and helpfulness. Of us then it may be 



Regeneration -45 

said, "It is God which worketh in you." Without this 
change of heart there may be morality, but there can 
never be Christianity. 

The New Life 

"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new 
creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things 
are become new. And all things are of God, who hath 
reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ" (2 Cor. 5: 
17, 18). According to this text, all things in the new 
life are of God; that is, they are wrought in righteous- 
ness. We can not live partly for God and partly for 
self and Satan. The life must bear one complexion 
throughout. God looks upon it as a whole and expects 
us to live it as a whole for him. He will accept nothing 
else. He has said that we are either for him or against 
him, and that we can not serve both God and Mammon, 
and that we can not serve two masters, for we shall 
either love one and hate the other or cleave to one and 
despise the other. If we truly love God and are truly 
living for him, our lives are godly. Scripture says, 
"Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin" (1 
John 3:9), and, "He that committeth sin is of the 
devil" (ver. 8). Our sinning or not sinning shows to 
which master we belong. Therefore if we are Christ's, 
there is not seen in our lives the practise of sin, but we 
delight to do his will. We delight in that which is right 
and just and noble. People looking upon us can be able 
to say with real conviction that Christ liveth in us. The 
distinction between the Christian and the sinner is 



46 Winning a Crown 

neither superficial nor imaginary^ but reaches to the 
utmost depths of the heart and life. The line of sep- 
aration is clean-cut and absolute. It is not simply a 
difference of profession, nor of acts, nor of associa- 
tion, nor even of character. It is more than all this; 
it is the possession of a new life divinely implanted — a 
new life that controls and actuates the being. 

New Ideals and Purposes 

When the heart is changed from sin to grace, the old 
ideals give place to new and better ones. The old pur- 
poses cease to sway us. Instead of being essentially 
selfish and living for our own pleasure, we begin to 
seek God's pleasure and earnestly to desire to do his 
will — that which pleases him. Whatever may have been 
our ideals before, they are now much exalted and must 
be so to be compatible with our new state. God becomes 
the ideal of our life, and it is our earnest desire that 
those qualities and characteristics which are manifested 
in him may be manifested in us. We abhor that which 
is low and debasing, and we reach out to that which is 
high and noble. These new ideals and purposes dom- 
inate our life and make it one of which we need not be 
ashamed. 



Regeneration — Continued 

Effect on the Moral Attributes and Faculties 

The effect of regeneration upon man's moral at- 
tributes and faculties is most profound. It amounts to 
a complete transformation. His conscience, his will, his 
perceptions and sensibilities are all revolutionized. His 
faculties are quickened and changed. He finds himself 
different in a thousand ways, and these differences show 
to him that he is indeed a new creature. 

The conscience of the sinner is defiled. "But unto 
them that are defiled and unbelieving, there is nothing 
pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled" 
(Tit. 1:15). Paul, speaking on this point, says that 
they have "their conscience seared with a hot iron" 
(1 Tim. 4:2). This state of the conscience, however, 
need not be permanent. No matter how defiled it may 
have become, no matter how unclean, no matter how 
seared, when the soul turns to God there is a remedy. 
"How much more shall the blood of Christ . . . purge 
your conscience from dead works to serve the living 
God?" (Heb. 9: 14). Again, it is said, "Let us draw 
near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having 
our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience" (chap. 
10:22). The result of this purification through the 
blood of Christ is told in chap. 10: 2 — "Because that the 
worshipers once purged should have had no more con- 
science of sins." When our iniquities are blotted out, 
the guilt upon our conscience is removed and we are free. 
We are before the Lord as though we had never commit- 

47 



48 Winning a Crown 

ted sin, so far as any sense of present guilt is concerned. 
We are brought into a blessed state of peace, which is 
thus expressed: "There is therefore now no condemna- 
tion to them which are in Christ Jesus" (Rom. 8: 1). 
This state may be maintained. Paul said, "Herein 
do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void 
of offense toward God, and toward men" (Acts 24: 16). 
Among other things which we are to do is to hold "the 
mystery of the faith in a pure conscience" (1 Tim. 
3:9). There is nothing that can give us more inward 
satisfaction than a conscience void of offense, one that 
approves our conduct and our state. Nothing can be 
more harassing than the stings of a dej^led conscience. 

God has promised us that we should have his peace, 
and we can have this peace only as we have a peaceful 
conscience. This is the Christian's heritage; this is his 
glorious portion. We can so maintain our lives before 
God that we shall have the approval of our consciences 
and a continued realization that the things we are doing 
are done with the single purpose of pleasing God. We 
can be conscious that we are following him as his dear 
children and yielding our all to him. This inner con- 
sciousness is a joy indeed and a satisfaction that can 
come from no other source. 

The sinner is fully bent on doing as he pleases, in 
following out his own purposes and desires. He does 
not take God into his consideration. He asks only, 
''What do I wish to do ?" He feels that he is master 
of himself. He gives allegiance to. none, Self sits 
upon the throne of his life and rules there. In regenera- 



Regeneration — Continued 49 

tion all this is changed. The will submits to God. It 
takes its orders from him, as it were. The regenerated 
person yields his will to carry out the purpose of his 
Maker. This yielding is not forced ; it is willing and 
ready. The regenerated will delights to do the will of 
God, delights to carry out his purpose. That charity 
which is from above "seeketh not her own." Instead of 
opposing God, the will actively cooperates with him. 
The one-time rebel has become a dutiful and obedient 
son. 

The moral perceptions are also now greatly changed. 
We see things in a new light. Instead of seeing in God 
qualities that make us fear him and dread him and 
shrink from contact with him, we see those things which 
attract us and draw out our love toward him. God be- 
comes, as it were, a new God. We find him entirely 
different from what we supposed him to be. We find his 
attitude toward us different from what it seemed to be. 
His love, which we never really knew before, becomes 
a glorious reality to us. His Word becomes as a new 
book, and we read it eagerly and enjoy it greatly. Our 
perception of moral qualities in actions is also very dif- 
ferent from what it was before. It was abnormal. We 
looked at things through the obscurity of our sinfulness. 
But now we see things face to face. We see them in 
their true colors, in their true perspective. 

Our sensibilities, too, are vitally changed. There is, 
in fact, a complete reversal of the effect of the causes 
which excite our sensibilities, the effect upon our feel- 
ings of things involving moral questions being quite 



50 Winning a Crown 

the opposite of what it was before. Sinful things repel 
instead of attracting, excite our disgust and disapproval 
instead of producing in us a sense of pleasure. The 
company of our former wicked associates brings to us 
now a feeling different from what it did before. The 
things of the world have lost their charm. We are 
strongly drawn to holy things. Contemplation of God 
and our relation to him instead of causing feelings of 
fear and distress, stir emotions of joy and thankfulness. 
New emotions arise and are sometimes very powerful. 
Spiritual joy, peace, contentment, and satisfaction unite 
to uplift the soul to new heights. 

Different persons have different emotions, depending 
upon their natural temperaments. There is a wide varia- 
tion even in the same person at different times. Emo- 
tion is not salvation or any part of it, but it often ac- 
companies the work of God in us and follows in the life. 
We are profoundly conscious of the reversal of the ef- 
fect of outside things upon our emotions. This is the 
most important thing in regard to them in our new life. 
In this particular they become an evidence of the change 
wrought in us. This subject will be treated more at 
length in a succeeding chapter. 

Our natural faculties also are vitally affected. In 
the sinful life we may reverence God in a way, but not 
as when we are saved. We might worship him in form 
as we see others doing, but we can not worship him in 
spirit and in truth until our hearts are in harmony with 
him. In the new life we need no command to praise him 
or to worship him, for it is natural to do so. Praise 



Regeneration — Continued 51 

flows from our hearts unto him as water from a foun- 
tain, and the flow is quickened by every consideration 
of his goodness to us. The contemplation of his being 
and character arouses a reverence in us that we could 
never have felt before. The wisdom and justice of his 
law excite our highest admiration. 

Faith is another thing that is profoundly affected. It 
passes from the passive to the active state in the in- 
dividual, and not only so, but it is greatly increased in 
degree. As sinners we may believe in God; but when 
we are converted, when we become God's children, our 
faith is active then, and we trust, we rely in him and 
believe him, and this faith brings us into and keeps us in 
vital relation with him. 

The sinner is pictured as being without hope and 
without God in the world. He has nothing to look 
forward to. Hope brings him no blessings from the 
spiritual realm. He looks forward to the future, and 
all is dark and disappointing. He has no foundation for 
hope. But with a Christian it is quite different. Hope 
is born anew in him. Hope looks forward and sees its 
pathway illuminated with a heavenly light. It looks 
beyond this life and sees the future glorious with expec- 
tation. The Christian's hope is based upon a sure 
foundation. He knows that he will not be disappointed. 
He knows that hope reaches within the veil and grasps 
hold of that which God has in store for him in the years 
of eternity. The Christian has hope in his present life 
and in his death and in God's glorious kingdom of heaven. 
No wonder that Paul spoke of it as being the "anchor 



52 Winning a Crown 

of the soul." The sinner has no anchor for his soul. He 
is tossed about wherever the storms of life may throw 
him, while the Christian rests serene and calm and un- 
troubled. 

The faculty of love also is greatly changed, or man- 
ifests itself in a greatly diiferent way. The sinner 
does not and can not really love God. He may have an 
admiration for the character of God and for the laws 
of God, but this can never rise to love. He may love 
himself; he may love his friends and the things about 
him; he may love and does love his sins, or he would not 
persist in them. This selfish love and the love of sin 
must be destroyed out of the heart and is destroyed in 
regeneration. The new-born soul loves God. He knows 
not when he began nor how it is, but he feels his heart 
drawn out in tenderest love toward God. His capacity 
to love seems to be increased, and all its strength seems 
to go out toward God. Not that he does not love those 
about him nor the things that are lovely; he still loves 
these, but he loves them as they ought to be loved, and 
he loves God more than they all. "We love him, be- 
cause he first loved us" (1 John 4: 19), and a con- 
templation of his love for us begets more and more of 
love toward him in return. 

Our sense of justice and fair play is likewise greatly 
affected. If we are treated unfairly, we no longer feel 
vindictive. We no longer feel disposed to take ven- 
geance on those who do us ill, but rather to say, "Father, 
forgive them; for they know not what they do." The 
disposition to enforce our rights by carnal means is 



Regeneration — Continued 58 

taken away. We are willing to let God rule in our 
lives and rule in the things that concern us. Hatred, 
bitterness, envy, malice, and all such things have their 
end, and in their stead come kindness and mercy and 
justice. Abnormal self-esteem, pride, haughtiness, arro- 
gance, and all such things give way to meekness, quiet- 
ness, and consideration of others. We learn to value 
others at their true worth and by the same standard by 
which we value ourselves. 

Effects on the Mental Constitution 

The effect of regeneration on man's mental constitu- 
tion is important. Not only is his mental point of view 
changed, but the general course of his thoughts run in 
a different direction. When we are in the valley of sin, 
the prospect is quite different from what it is when we 
are on the mountain-top of salvation. Things do not 
appear the same to us as they did before. Our horizon 
is widened, and we view things more truly in their re- 
lationship to other things. The mind is often strongly 
affected by the general course of the sinful life. It runs 
in the channels of sin and upon the things of sin. It 
delights in the things of the world and of sin. The 
converted person thinks rathea of the things of God 
and of the things that are pure and noble and uplift- 
ing. His thoughts are turned into new channels and 
upon new objects. The Holy Spirit illuminates his 
mind, so that many things that were once dirk and 
mysterious now seem plain and clear. He understands 
the Bible as he could not understand it before. He 



54 Winning a Crown 

understands God, and he understandis himself. He 
sees them in a new light. His understanding may be 
only partial; he may not understand clearly; but things 
appear quite different from what they did before. 

The effect on his reasoning faculties is very marked. 
He is now in a position where God can reveal to him 
through his Spirit many truths wholly unknown before, 
and his reason is quickened so that he may readily un- 
derstand the philosophy of many things that he did not 
know before and that he could not understand even 
when he heard others speak of them. The problems of 
life have a new meaning to him, and one by one he finds 
their solution. He finds the laws and purposes of God 
such as to excite the admiration of his reason and to 
lead it on to deeper and deeper understanding. Sinners 
have deified reason and bowed down to and worshiped it, 
but man's unaided reason is not a safe guide. Too 
often it has led him astray into bogs from which he 
could not easily make his way. Reason, under the direc- 
tion of the Spirit of God, finds its way into the path of 
truth and rejoices therein. 

We may well say that the whole course of man's 
thoughts, so far as they relate to moral things, is 
changed. He thinks now as a son of God; he thinks 
now with his reason illuminated. He delights to have 
his mind dwell on that which is right and just and noble 
and good, that which will bless him and his fellows, and 
that which will please and honor his God. 



Regeneration — Continued 55 

Effects on the Physical Being 

The effect of regeneration on man's physical being 
must of necessity be less than that on the other parts 
of his being. Its greatest physical effects are probably 
obtained through the cessation of injurious habits that 
the person followed in his sinful days. His natural 
functions are not affected by regeneration. They are 
necessary to his being; they are parts, as it were, of his 
physical being. It does, however, oftentimes have a 
profound effect upon his appetites, especially such as 
are acquired and unnatural. In most instances the 
appetite for intoxicating liquors disappears as if by 
magic. The same is often true of the appetite for 
tobacco and narcotic drugs and other unnatural things. 
However, experiences are not always uniform in this 
regard. But in all cases where the appetite leads to 
sinfulness, the grace of God will be found sufficient to 
overcome it, God himself intervening usually to destroy 
the unnatural appetite. The effect on natural appetites 
is less marked. In fact, these are left to be controlled 
by the mental and moral constitution of man, according 
to wisdom and to will. 

The least that we can say of the work of God in the 
human nature and being is that it brings us into a place 
where we can serve God in holiness and righteousness, 
in a manner that is acceptable to him and glorifying to 
his name. We should stop nothing short of this, for 
nothing short of this will enable us to live a real Chris- 
tian life. 



The Christian Life 
Babes in Christ 

We must not expect to come into the Christian life 
in a mature state. This is indicated by the figure of be- 
ing born. We are at first immature in all our spiritual 
faculties. We comprehend the things in the kingdom 
of God with the comprehension of a child and not with 
that of an adult. Our knowledge at best is only frag- 
mentary. Of experience we have nothing at all. Since 
we have no data from which to draw our conclusions, 
our views and conclusions will often be imperfect. We 
may hear others talk and see them act in a way that 
seems not to correspond to our views. Their more de- 
veloped reason may make things appear differently to 
them from what they now appear to us, and things will 
later appear to us quite differently in many , respects 
from what they do now. 

Then, also, we know and understand little of God in 
the beginning. We must be patient. We must be will- 
ing to learn. We must be willing to be taught. We 
must be willing to grow and develop according to the 
laws of spiritual development. If we try to hurry things 
too much, we shall only do ourselves injury. All we 
need to do is just to live normally, to live and trust and 
serve God, letting him take care of the growth, not tak- 
ing thought about it nor worrying over it, but letting it 
be in his hands and concerning ourselves with the affairs 
of life that belong to us. 

In the natural life the child is subject to many dan- 

56 



The Christian Life 57 

gers to which an adult is not subject. The same is true 
in the spiritual life. One of these dangers is that we 
shall overestimate our strength, shall suppose we can 
resist temptation, and therefore we may become careless 
and go into the way of temptation and at last find our- 
selves entrapped. The Lord taught us to pray, "Lead 
us not into temptation." The babe in Christ often has 
need to pray that prayer and to watch lest he does him- 
self enter into temptation. By their unwisdom people 
often bring serious temptations upon themselves, temp- 
tations that too often they are unable to overcome. It 
is wise to keep on the safe side; to keep where we shall 
not be tempted above our strength. God will help us 
to overcome those temptations that can not be avoided; 
he will see to it that we have grace to meet those if we 
will trust him. But if we throw ourselves into a posi- 
tion to be tempted, then we may have too great a bat- 
tle and instead of being victorious, be vanquished. 

Another danger to which young converts are ex- 
posed is their liability to be overconfident and under- 
take things too great for them, things which only more 
mature Christians can accomplish. When such is the 
case and they fail in their undertaking, the result is 
often serious discouragement. Many battles have to 
be fought because they reach out too far. It is best 
to wait on God and let him direct our undertakings. It 
is best to be sufficiently modest not to push ourselves 
forward, especially beyond those who are older in expe- 
rience in the Christian life. Young converts often have 
more zeal than wisdom, and this zeal often carries them 



58 Winning a Crown 

into things that end sadly unless they are careful and 
unless they are willing to receive and heed advice and 
counsel. They are too often prone to estimate too highly 
their own judgments and wisdom, and therefore not to 
value as they should the wisdom and the guidance of 
older Christians. The best advice that can be given 
such an individual is to "make haste slowly." 

Another danger is that of becoming exalted, or proud 
of one's own self, one's abilities, and one's accomplish- 
ments. What we do seems to be greater than what 
others do. We are so likely to place too high a value 
upon it. This is true especially of the inexperienced be- 
ginner. This pride of self is very destructive of spir- 
ituality. We can not prosper if we give place to it, 
and sooner or later we shall find ourselves far away 
from God. The wise man said, "Before honor is hu- 
mility" (Prov. 15:33). We should therefore, as begin- 
ners, be willing to do the little things, and to fill a small 
place until we grow up to man's stature. Then and 
then only can we do a man's work. 

Still another danger of the young convert is that of 
being deceived by false doctrines. His judgment is 
immature, but he often does not realize it, but feels 
himself capable of determining the truth or falsity of 
almost anything he hears, and that oftentimes with very 
little investigation. I have known scores of young con- 
verts who started out well, seemed spiritual, seemed to 
love God, but who, because of negligence in this regard, 
were led into false doctrines from which they never 
escaped or from which they escaped at last after much 



The Christian Life 59 

difficulty and with much loss to their spirituality. The 
Bible says, "Take heed that no man deceive you" (Matt. 
24:4), and this is wise advice to every beginner in the 
Christian race. Prove all things and hold fast only to 
that which you are assured is the truth and that which 
other spiritual Christians accept. 

There is also much danger of being led into some- 
thing that will destroy spirituality. Frivolous and fool- 
ish conversations, worldly amusements, too much of the 
society of worldly people, or anything of this sort, is 
likely to dull the spiritual sensibilities, and to draw the 
heart away from God. Satan has many traps for the 
young convert's feet, and he will do well to watch care- 
fully his path and follow only those things which will 
tend to uplift and make him better. He must carefully 
cultivate the tender plants of God's planting in his soul 
lest they should die from inattention. 

Another thing of which the babe in Christ must be- 
ware is placing too much confidence in those who may 
not be worthy of his confidence. There are many who 
have a form of godliness, even many who pose as teach- 
ers, whose private lives are not worthy. There are some 
who wear the garb of religion who would gladly lead 
him astray. There are others who are deceived them- 
selves and would lead him into their error. Let him 
remember that he is but a babe; that he must watch his 
steps carefully; that he must keep close to God; that 
he must trust in him for all things; and that only by 
this means can he develop into a strong, useful. Chris- 
tian man. 



60 Winning a Crown 

Why Same Have Better Experiences Than Others 

It is a fact commonly observed that some Christians 
have better experiences than others. This is true even 
from the beginning of their Christian life. The dif- 
ference may be due to a number of things, but the most 
important cause for any one's experiencing a lack of 
that abundance of grace all should have is no doubt 
found in the fact that he fails to yield himself to God as 
fully as he should. 

This, of course, does not imply a refusal to yield 
fully, for that vrould be rebellion ; and the soul could not 
be saved at all under such conditions. But in most in- 
stances it is undoubtedly due to the fact that the per- 
son does not comprehend the meaning and the necessity 
of complete surrender. He goes as far as he can see, 
and stops there, even though there are great fields of 
his nature that are as yet not fully yielded. Should 
rebellion spring from any of these, it would prove fatal 
to his soul life. When a question arises that involves 
this unyielded territory, he must immediately make a 
decision. He must either yield to God's will, or become 
a rebel. He can not consciously refuse to conform him- 
self to the will of God without grieving the Holy Spirit. 

God yields himself to us as we yield to him and open 
the channel for grace. A full and complete yielding of 
ourselves opens wide this channel, and then grace flows 
into our hearts in abundance. It is in our power to 
close this channel and thereby hinder the flow of grace. 
Any reluctance on our part, therefore, to submit to the 



The Christian Life 61 

whole will of God obstructs the channel of grace, and 
results in a lack of spirituality in our lives. The Spirit 
works freely where there are no hindrances. Self-sur- 
render is the hardest but most necessary thing. The 
more complete that surrender is, the more perfect is the 
working of God in the soul, and the more Christlike we 
become. 

It is not enough to surrender self to God; but sur- 
render must be maintained. We must carefully guard 
ourselves lest we permit the channel of grace to become 
obstructed. It may become obstructed at any time and 
in a great variety of ways. Self is liable to assert itself; 
and since it is possible at any time for us to withdraw 
our submission to God, no matter how spiritual we may 
have been or how much God may have worked in us, 
we must therefore be on our guard. We are so consti- 
tuted that we naturally like our own ways ; and if we 
are not careful, we shall unconsciously choose our ways 
in preference to God's. But doing so can not but react 
upon our spirituality. 

Some are more spiritual than others because they ex- 
ercise more diligence in their endeavor to conform them- 
selves more perfectly to the will of God. Some grow 
very careless in this respect, and just drift along any 
way. They take it for granted that they are the Lord's. 
They seem little concerned about becoming more per- 
fectly his, or about conforming themselves more per- 
fectly to him. They allow their attention to be taken 
up by the daily round of duties, by business affairs, by 
the ordinary things of life; and they give little thought 



62 Winning a Crown 

to their drawing nearer to God. They, therefore, make 
little progress in the divine life. Many people are now 
not as spiritual as they were when they first began the 
Christian life. They have professed for years; but 
today they bear less of the fruits of the Spirit than they 
bore years ago. They have less of earnestness and 
power, and experience fewer of the manifestations of 
God's grace. Their zeal and their love have grown cold. 
What is the trouble? Is not the grace of God able to 
cause them to abound in all these qualities? It is not 
God's fault if they are not prospering — it is their own, 
because they have let the channel of grace be filled up. 
Keep open this channel in your soul. Seek day by day 
to get closer to God and to conform yourself more 
perfectly to him; then you may increase and develop, 
and be enriched in God. But the key-note of spirituality 
is ever and always self-surrender. 

The Retention of Grace 

In order to retain natural life, we must conform to 
the laws of life. We can not violate them without reap- 
ing the consequences. The principle here involved is as 
truly applicable to our spiritual life. There are certain 
laws we must obey, or spiritual death will ensue. Grace 
can be retained only by one's living a holy life. Sin 
is fatal to spiritual life; sin brings us under the con- 
demnation of God's law and Spirit. "The wages of 
sin is death," both spiritual death and eternal death, 
death now and hereafter. Now, what is the true stand- 
ard of the justified life? John says, "Whosoever is 



The Christian Life 63 

born of God doth not commit sin" (1 John 3:9). To 
be justified means to be accounted free from guilt, or 
innocent. Is one who commits sins free from guilt, or 
innocent? There are many people who point to the 
seventh chapter of Romans and say it represents the 
Christian life, or is the true standard of the justified 
life. Many say, "I do not expect to have a better ex- 
perience than the Apostle Paul had." The fact is, how- 
ever, that what he relates in the seventh chapter of 
Romans is not a narration of his Christian experience. 
Let him tell in his own words what his experience was. 
"Ye are witnesses, and God also, how holily and justly 
and unblameably we behaved ourselves among you that 
believe" (1 Thess. 2:10). Shall we receive or reject 
his testimony? 

The picture drawn in the seventh chapter of Romans 
is not the standard of the Christian life. Paul neither 
asserts nor suggests that he is speaking of a Christian's 
experience. Throughout the New Testament we find, 
both in precept and example, something very different 
from this. I called your attention to Paul's life and to 
his testimony of his Christian living. Let us now hear 
the voice of inspiration: "That they may adorn the 
doctrine of God our Savior in all things. For the grace 
of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, 
teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, 
we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this 
present world" (Tit. 2:10-12). Again: "That he 
would grant unto us that we . . . might serve him 
without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him. 



64 Winning a Crown 

all the days of our life" (Luke 1:74, 75). Now, God 
is not an idealist; he does not hold up before us a stand- 
ard impossible to be reached and then expect us to aim 
at it only to miss. He does not demand us to try, when 
he knows we should fall short continually. He does 
not require too much of us ; nor does he place the stand- 
ard of right living higher than he will help us to live up 
to, if we trust him and use the grace he offers us. 

We should avoid the idealism that represents the 
Christian life as a constant, onward-and-upward prog- 
ress, accompanied with a cloudless sky and most bliss- 
ful emotions. Such idealism is incapable of being trans- 
lated into life. The Bible is essentially practical. It 
raises no such standard. Life in no condition is always 
cloudless, nor are the emotions always joyous. Life 
is made up of sunshine and clouds, of joys and sorrows. 
There will be tears and sighs as well as joys and smiles. 
There will be temptations and trials as well as victories 
and exultations. 

We should, however, avoid the extreme of presenting 
life as being a series of dark and sinful days or as being 
composed mostly of short-comings. It is not such. The 
normal life of a regenerated person is one in which God 
reigns, and in which grace to live above sin abounds. 
This life will not be without its temptations, its perplex- 
ities, its cares, and its disappointments. Its pathway 
will sometimes be rugged and thorny. But God will 
ever uphold us and give us grace to be obedient to him 
if we trust him. No man is compelled to sin. If he 
sins, it is because he chooses to do so. And when he 



The Christian Life 65 

sins, the relation of his soul to God is changed. He is 
brought under condemnation. His conscience accuses 
him; he knows that he has done wrong, and he knows 
what he has done. His peace and joy are gone. A 
cloud is between him and God. It is true that if he 
will repent God will be merciful and will restore him; 
but God does not expect him to disobey over and over 
again. He expects us to live right; and we can do so 
if we will. Those who plead for sin dishonor both them- 
selves and God. The language of the regenerate heart 
is, "I delight to do thy will, O God." Can we even con- 
ceive of one's holding such an attitude toward God and 
his law, and then breaking that law continually.'' H 
we will be God's, we must live above sin; and this we 
can do by his grace. 



Native Depravity 

There are already so many treatises on this subject 
that it need be considered here only as it relates to the 
practical side of the Christian life in the regenerate 
state. The doctrine is held in some form by most the- 
ologians. The Augustinian and Calvanistic view, that 
man is guilty and is fit only for damnation because of 
having partaken of Adam's sin, and the more modified 
view held by most Arminians, do not concern us here. 
We wish now to consider depravity only as it relates 
to and affects the nature of man after he is born again. 

That man's nature does contain depravity in some 
form is generally admitted. The Bible does not give 
us a scientific or philosophical treatment of the subject. 
Man's natural depravity is one of the many things that 
are assumed to be so much a fact of human conscious- 
ness as to need no proof. Since the Bible so treats the 
matter, and man is left to form his own conclusion on 
this, as well as many other points, it is not strange that 
there are many different ideas. Regarding the uni- 
versality of the doctrine, I quote from Miley: "The 
doctrine of entire sanctification in regeneration was new 
with Zinzendorff and wholly unknown before him." — 
Theology, Vol. II, page 367. This can have no mean- 
ing except that the doctrine of the existence of deprav- 
ity in those regenerated was previously universal, as it 
practically is today. 

From the Scriptural standpoint, it is only necessary 
to show that believers are promised a sanctification sub- 

66 



Native Depravity 67 

sequent to their becoming believers. Jesus prayed for 
the Twelve in these words: "They are not of the world, 
even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through 
thy truth" (John 17:16, 17). Again, "For their sakes 
I sanctify myself, that they also may be sanctified" 
(ver. 19). For the Thessalonian Christians, Paul 
prayed thus: "The verj'^ God of peace sanctify you 
wholly" (1 Thess. 5:23). 

There are two general theories as to the origin of 
depravity. The first is that it is generic, being a cor- 
ruption of the nature transmitted through all the race 
from Adam. This is the most commonly accepted idea. 
The second, held by Mr. Finney and others, is that 
depravity is not transmissible but results from the or- 
der of development of the child. The physical develops 
before the mental, and the mental before the spiritual, 
so that the physical and mental habits form and be- 
come wholly selfish before the spiritual is developed 
enough for it to have a proper moral sense; and thus 
its nature is depraved. \\'Tiich of these theories may be 
correct has no practical bearing on the fact of its exist- 
ence, so does not demand more than passing attention 
here. 

For my part, I am inclined to adopt a middle ground, 
that is, that depravity is transmissible and transmitted 
and that it may be increased by the individual's own con- 
duct, and also that it is invariable as a transmitted qual- 
ity, being dependent upon the same laws as are the 
transmission of mental and physical qualities. That 
depravity is a constant in all, I am not prepared to 



68 Winning a Crown 

accept, as observation certainly shows the opposite to 
be true. 

One thing is certainly true of it. It is not an entity 
or tangible thing, such as a stump, by which it is some- 
times illustrated. Nor is it a plant planted by Satan. 
He has no power to plant in man any such thing. The 
human will is free, and can not be coerced by man or 
the devil, nor even by God himself. Depravity was 
not a new thing that entered Adam when he sinned. It 
was only a perversion or corruption of what he already 
was. It is not a sort of motor that Satan connects with 
our human nature and by which he operates us. It is 
not a thing that can be subtracted bodily from a person. 
It is a corruption that must be cleansed. It is an over- 
development, or rather an abnormal development, of the 
natural faculties or propensities which in their normal 
state are pure and necessary. Self-esteem when cor- 
rupted becomes pride. The sense of justice becomes 
vindictiveness and reveals itself in wrath, malice, hatred, 
and revenge. Love of the beautiful becomes vanity. 
Amativeness becomes lust. Acquisitiveness becomes cov- 
etousness. This seems to me the only rational explana- 
tion that can be given to the subject. 

The question is often asked: "If depravity is trans- 
missible, how can the children of sanctified parents pos- 
sess this depravity?" The fact that it is so should 
seem no stranger than the well-known fact that mental 
and physical diseases or malformations and abnormal- 
ities are transmitted through healthy links. It is un- 
deniable that such diseases as scrofula, insanity, crav- 



Native Depravity 69 

ing for liquor^ and many like things are transmitted 
through parents who show no trace of such things, the 
diseases breaking out in descendants removed the second, 
third, or even fourth generation from grandparents who 
have been so afflicted or diseased. It is the life-current 
that is defiled. The sanctification of the parent is only 
as an accidental thing; that is, it is like the amputa- 
tion of a limb or the removal of an eye in the physical. 
Parents who have suffered such mutilations do not trans- 
mit these to their children. We may not understand 
some of the laws of transmission; but our lack of com- 
prehension does not prevent them from being true in 
human experience, neither does it disprove them. The 
transmission of depravity is only an example of the 
law of persistence of type — a law which, in natural 
things, is left unquestioned. 

Reversion to Type 

The animal and vegetable kingdoms are alike sub- 
ject to man's control. He may produce new varieties 
and develop them to a high degree; but when once they 
are left to themselves, removed from man's care, they 
all revert to their former types. The different varieties 
of pigeons, of all colors and characters, would, if taken 
and placed by themselves, out of the reach of man, re- 
vert to the one type from which they were derived. This 
same law acts all through nature; and we ought not to 
be surprized on finding that the same law acts as truly 
in the moral sphere. It is not strange that children 



70 Winning a Crown 

revert to the type of their ancestors, no matter what 
was the condition of their parents. 

People who have been sanctified may at any time 
become depraved by unlawfully indulging desires or by 
going into rebellion against God. In this manner Adam 
became depraved; and so may we. In our case, how- 
ever, we can not call the resulting depravity Adamic; 
it is the same as Adam's in essence; but we, not he, are 
responsible. Depravity is, as already stated, not some- 
thing planted by Satan, but is a corruption, progressive 
in its nature and capable of being greatly increased by 
our sinful actions. It can also be minimized by careful 
cultivation; and by thus repressing it, men become more 
moral than they otherwise would. Independent of the 
grace of God, therefore, we can to a considerable extent 
limit and restrain this inward element. It is, however, 
capable of complete elimination by the Spirit of God. 

State of Those Possessing Depravity 

Among the practical effects of depravity in a regen- 
erated person, is that he can not love God perfectly. 
There is a frequent assertion of the self-life. It is so 
easy for him to think that his way is right and best. 
And in spite of his desire to please and serve God, there 
is, nevertheless, within him a something that causes him 
to want his own way, to want to gratify his own personal 
desires. There is a twofoldness about his desires. 
There is a something that desires to please God, and at 
the same time another something that desires to please 
himself. This latter is sometimes very strong, and may 



Native Depravity 71 

occasion him no little difficulty when he endeavors to 
submit himself to the will of God. Through grace he 
may overcome this and submit to God, but he can not 
of himself destroy it. It is quite true that we can never 
become automatically unselfish; but it is also true that 
the strength of the self-life is depravity, and that, when 
this is destroyed, we can much more easily and more 
naturally be unselfish. 

Temptation more forcefully takes hold of one when 
he is in the regenerate state than it does when he is in 
the wholly sanctified state, because under the former 
conditions it receives cooperation from depravity. A 
brother in telling of his personal experience spoke on 
this wise: "Temptations used to seem to get right up 
close to me and to take hold upon me. I used, often- 
times, to have a terrible battle with them; but now it 
seems that things are changed. Temptations do not 
get close to me as they did then. There seems to be 
a something that holds them off at a distance from me 
so that they do not have the power that they used to 
have; nor does it take the struggle to overcome them 
that it used to take." 

This brother's experience has been duplicated by the 
experiences of the writer and thousands of others. There 
is something within the regenerated man that seems to 
answer to temptation; and he must resist, not only the 
temptation, but also that something within himself upon 
which the temptation takes hold. I refer, not simply 
to his natural propensities (for these natural propen- 
sities will persist in the sanctified state), but rather to 



73 Winning a Crown 

the depraved state of these natural propensities. Wlien 
we are in the regenerated state, our natural desires are 
more inclined to run in unlawful channels and are harder 
to restrain than they are when we are in the wholly sanc- 
tified state. The more grace we have, the more our 
desires are restrained without apparent effort. Grace 
overwhelms many desires or tendencies in our natural 
being, making it the more possible for us to guide our- 
selves in the way of God with ease. The more grace we 
have, the more easily we can keep ourselves in perfect 
standing before God and the more perfectly conform to 
his will. The less of grace we have, the less of power 
we have to do this. 

The warfare between grace and depravity in a re- 
generated person uses up spiritual strength, and conse- 
quently limits his activities in other directions. We can 
not accomplish things for God as we might, if we have 
to use so much of our strength upon ourselves, and so, 
for this reason the obtaining of release from depravity 
enables us more fully to throw our energies into the life 
of salvation and the work of God; the greater grace 
that we possess when sanctified^ increases our spiritual 
powers and makes us very much more able to accom- 
plish work for God than we otherwise could be. We 
can thus glorify him in a greater degree. Regenerated 
people are to a degree conscious of this inner conflict; 
but they can not be as conscious of the distinction be- 
tween the two different states of grace as can the one 
who has entered the higher state. They must have the 
personal experience in order to know for themselves. 



Native Depravity 73 

The Remedy 

Two remedies for this depraved state have been pro- 
posed. One of them is a palliative and the other a 
specific. The first is the repression remedy; that is, 
depravity must be kept in subjection through life by the 
will. Those teaching this theory hold that there can 
be no elimination of this element^ no cleansing from it, 
but that it is of such a nature that it will ever be with 
us through the journey of life and that we must con- 
tinually watch and guard against its asserting itself, lest 
it should overthrow us and lead us astray from God. 
According to this theory, life is a continued and unend- 
ing warfare against it. Their only hope of ending this 
warfare is in death; they expect to be sanctified at death 
and not to take this element with them into heaven. 
Such as these are ready to exclaim with the apostle Paul, 
"Oh, wretched man that I am!" but they are not able 
to join with him in the song of deliverance. 

The other remedy, that of eradication, is taught by 
people who believe in a second work of divine grace. 
The teaching of these, however, frequently runs into 
an idealism that leaves nothing whatever to repress in 
our natures. According to this extreme position, we 
should become practically automatons. Advocates of 
such teaching like to picture sanctification as making us 
a sort of angelic beings; and they would have us live 
in an ecstatic state, high above the practical affairs of 
life. They can tell us just how glorious we should 
feel on all occasions ; how rapturous it is to dwell in 



74 Winning a Crown 

that condition. Their teaching is idealism pure and 
simple. 

The true idea, it seems to me, can not be expressed 
by the extreme teachings of either of these theories. 
As is usually the case, the middle ground between the 
two extremes is the most tenable. Our human nature is 
a creation of God, and as such, it is a necessary part of 
us; and God will never destroy it, in fact, he can not 
destroy it without destroying us. Sanctification, there- 
fore, is not the destruction of this nature, but is the 
purification of it. It corrects the abnormal spiritual con- 
dition and brings the natural into a condition in which 
it may regain a proper balance. Paul said, "I keep 
under my body, and bring it into subjection" (1 Cor. 
9: 27). All the faculties and propensities of our nature 
are for our service and use. We are to master them. 
The will is to rule them and have them in subjection to 
itself and, as a result, to righteousness also. This sub- 
ject will be discussed at length under the heading Our 
Natural Propensities. 



Entire Sanctification 
Holiness, a Biblical Doctrine 

In our English Bible we have the two words "holi- 
ness" and "sanctification" in their various forms; but 
they are translated from a single word in the Greek 
text, and consequently the two words mean the same 
thing. It matters not, then, which word is used in the 
English translation ; for the meaning is always the same, 
and the words are perfectly interchangeable. If we 
would understand what the Bible says about the subject, 
we must keep this fact in view. 

That it is God's plan that we should be holy, has 
already been shown; but it will probably be well to 
quote the Scriptures again. "God hath from the be- 
ginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification 
of the Spirit and belief of the truth" (2 Thess. 2: 13). 
"He hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the 
world, that we should be holy and without blame be- 
fore him in love" (Eph. 1:4). "We know that all things 
work together for good to them that love God, to them 
who are the called according to his purpose. For whom 
he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be con- 
formed to the image of his Son" (Rom. 8: 28, 29). 

Now, this image of Christ, to which we are to con- 
form, is the same as the image in which man was orig- 
inally created. This pertains especially to his moral 
image. It is God's will that we be like his Son so that 
he shall not be ashamed to call us brethren. Christ 

75 



76 Winning a Crown 

became like us and took upon himself mortal flesh and 
the nature of man that we might bear His image, and 
in nature be like him. That we be in nature like Christ 
has from the beginning been God's plan and purpose. 
He has made all necessary provision that it may be so; 
and we may now be holy like our great high priest, 
Jesus Christ; of him the Bible says, "For such an high 
priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, sep- 
arate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens" 
(Heb. 7:26). And in Heb. 12: 14 we find the follow- 
ing words, "Follow peace with all men, and holiness, 
without which no man shall see the Lord." 

Concerning the purpose of Christ's death, we read, 
"Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the peo- 
ple with his own blood, suffered without the gate" 
(Heb. 13:12). Again, we read, "Now the God of 
peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Je- 
sus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood 
of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every 
good work to do his will" (vss. 20, 21). When God 
called us by his grace, he did not call us to an unholy 
service, nor to an unholy life. "God hath not called 
us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness" (1 Thess. 4:7). 
He has made it possible for us to be holy and to live 
holy. "That he would grant unto us, that we . . . 
might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteous- 
ness before him, all the days of our life" (Luke 1 : 
74, 75). 

God wants us to be holy because he is holy. He can 
find pleasure in nothing but what is holy. Listen to 



Entire Sanctification 77 

what he has said: "But as he which hath called you is 
holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; be- 
cause it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy" (1 Pet. 
1:15, 16). And Jesus prayed thus: "Sanctify them 
through thy truth: . . . and for their sakes I sanctify 
myself that they also might be sanctified" (John 17 J 
17-19). In this prayer he did not make his request 
merely for the Twelve, for he continued: "Neither pray 
I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe 
on me through their word" (vs. 20). 

Many have supposed that holiness is something to be 
obtained only after death. The Scriptures, however, 
speak of it as a present experience. When Paul wrote 
his First Epistle to the Corinthians, he addressed them 
thus: "To them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus" 
(chap. 1:2). Jude addresses his Epistle to "them that 
are sanctified by God the Father" (vs. 1). Neither of 
these apostles was writing to persons in heaven or to 
persons who were dead. On the contrary, they were 
writing to persons who were alive and were then in this 
world. Those addressed in the Hebrew epistle are 
called "holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly call- 
ing" (chap. 3:1). Paul calls the Colossian Christians 
"holy and beloved" (Col. 3:12). In 1 Cor. 3:16, 17 
Paul says, "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, 
and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you.^* . . . For 
the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are." Surely 
language could not make anything plainer. Holiness is 
for us, now and here. Concerning the purified man, 
Paul said, "He shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, 



78 Winning a Crown 

and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every 
good work" (2 Tim. 2:21). And here is a picture 
that Peter drew, describing the sanctified state: "Where- 
by are given unto us exceeding great and precious prom- 
ises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine 
nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the 
world through lust" (2 Pet. 1:4). The reader can, if 
he will consult his Bible, easily find many other texts 
bearing on this subject. 

Two Phases of Sanctification 

There are two phases, or two steps, in the work of 
sanctification. In the Scriptures just quoted no at- 
tempt was made to distinguish between these phases; 
but we shall now proceed to note that there are some 
distinctions. We have before shown, by Heb. 13:12, 
that Jesus suffered and shed his blood that he might 
sanctify the people. All cleansing, therefore, of what- 
soever sort, that is wrought by the work of Christ comes 
properly under the term "sanctification." John tells us 
that "the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son cleanseth us 
from all sin" (1 John 1:7). The Revelator speaks of 
Christ thus: "Unto him that loved us, and washed us 
from our sins in his own blood" (Rev. 1:5). In Heb. 
1:3 it is written of him: "When he had by himself 
purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the 
Majesty on high." All who are truly Christians have 
been thus purified in the blood of Christ; the guilt of 
their sins has all been washed away. They have yielded 



Entire Sanctification 79 

themselves to Christ and have become holy through 
his blood. 

The cleansing from guilt, however, is not all that the 
Scriptures promise. Under a previous heading it has 
been shown that there is a remedy for that inner de- 
pravity that still remains in the believer. To the 
Thessalonian Christians, Paul said, **The very God of 
peace sanctify you wholly" (1 Thess. 5:23). This 
language was not addressed to sinners. In vs. 27 he 
speaks of them as being "holy brethren." If the reader 
will turn to the first chapter of the Epistle, he will find 
that they were neither sinners nor backsliders, but Chris- 
tians in a very commendable state of grace. They had 
need, however, of still further attainment, and so he 
prayed that they might be sanctified wholly. This is 
in perfect harmony with Christ's praying for the apos- 
tles that they might be sanctified. In 2 Cor. 7: 1 Paul 
mentions "perfecting holiness in the fear of God," and 
defines it as being a cleansing from "all filthiness of the 
flesh and spirit." It will serve no good purpose to mul- 
tiply texts here, though it might easily be done; for if 
any one will reject these, he would reject a thousand, 
whereas, if he will accept these and submit himself to 
God, he may know in his own soul the truth of them. 

Why People Oppose the Doctrine 

There are a number of reasons why people oppose 
the doctrine of sanctification. One is because they mis- 
understand it. Some get a very exaggerated idea of 
what is meant by the term and of what the life of one 



80 Winning a Crown 

possessing the experience must be; and that misunder- 
standing makes the doctrine appear unreasonable to 
them, therefore they can not receive it. The experience 
is, of course, something that no man can understand 
until he knows it for himself by having entered into it. 
We may have a theoretical knowledge of it, but real 
knowledge comes only through experience. 

Some persons reject the doctrine because they have, 
through the influence of others, been prejudiced against 
it, or because the theology which they have been taught 
finds no place for it. If we accept any theological opin- 
ions that are contrary to the Scriptures, the sooner we 
can get rid of them, the better for us. Those theolog- 
ical opinions, whatever may have been their source, are 
likely to prove a barrier when we come to investigate 
this doctrine. It is something worthy of our most care- 
ful investigation, and we should not, therefore, let our 
theology stand in the way of such investigation. 

Some persons oppose the doctrine because they 
wrongly interpret certain passages of Scripture. It is 
probable that the interpreting of the seventh chapter of 
Romans to mean the experience of one who is saved 
by divine grace, is the greatest barrier in the way of the 
truth seeker. Many teachers of entire sanctification 
refer to that chapter as being a picture of the Christian 
life and as showing the necessity for a higher work of 
grace. It certainly does show the need of a work of 
grace, for it is the picture of a man without grace. It 
is the picture of an awakened sinner, one who finds his 
mind approving that which is right and good, but at the 



Entire Sanctiflcation 81 

same time finds sin reigning over him and holding him 
by its power so that he can not of himself break away 
from it. If he will be a Christian at all, he must get 
over into the experience pictured in the eighth chapter. 
The Christian life at its lowest ebb is higher than that 
experience represented in the seventh of Romans. 

In order to emphasize the believer's need of entire 
sanctiflcation, many teachers lower the standard of the 
justified life to a plane wholly inconsistent with the 
teachings of the Bible. Persons who are in the justified 
state are represented in the Book as being holy, not as 
being sinful and wicked. Neither are their hearts full 
of a great multitude of evils ready to assert themselves 
at any time. Teachings that lower the standard of 
justification often cause real Christians to reject the 
doctrine of entire holiness, because they realize that 
the standard of justification being preached does not 
come up to the standard of life to which they are living; 
and, as a consequence, they naturally conclude that what 
the preacher is teaching them is simply the experience 
that they already possess. 

Another stumbling-block is the mistakes some preach- 
ers of holiness make in applying to the subject many 
scriptures that have no true application to it. The the- 
ology and interpretations of many of the teachers of 
entire sanctiflcation are much in need of revision. This, 
however, does not discredit the true doctrine; instead, 
it discredits those teachers. But it does often hinder 
sincere people who would otherwise accept the truth. 

Another stumbling-block in the way of the investi- 



82 Winning a Crown 

gator is the excesses of some professors of sanctifica- 
tion. They give way to many wild and unseemly dem- 
onstrations, actions that cause the beholders to feel 
ashamed. Such professors declare some things to be 
of God which, if they truly were, would greatly put 
him to shame. These demonstrations and excesses often, 
instead of testifying to the presence of holiness, show 
the absence of that true quality of holiness for which 
people look. True holiness is godlike, and will not be- 
have itself unseemly. 

Some persons disbelieve because of the inconsistency 
of some who profess. Hypocrisy is not dead. Those 
who profess to be holy and who live lives, in private or 
in public, not consistent with that doctrine, prove them- 
selves to be hypocrites. Such persons' lives are not 
a true test of the doctrine. There are many whose 
lives do correspond to their profession. They shine 
as lights in the world. They are blameless and harm- 
less. Such persons do not make a great noise or a 
show of their lives. They simply live godly and right- 
eously and let their lives tell the story. Their lips 
may tell the story also; but if the experience is in the 
heart, the life tells it more convincingly than the lips do. 

Some oppose the doctrine of holiness because de- 
pravity is in their hearts. This evil element is not in 
the least favorable to holiness. Being the exact op- 
posite of holiness, it naturally repels it and everything 
that belongs to it. Another reason why some oppose 
sanctification is because they are unwilling to bear the 
reproach that in some places attaches to the professor 



Entire Sanctification 88 

of entire sanctification. They are not willing to be like 
Christ, if being like him means to be reproached as he 
was reproached, and scorned as he was scorned. They 
think very highly of the people's opinion of them, and 
they are not willing bo do anything that would lessen 
them in that regard. Peter looked at it differently. He 
said, "If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy 
are ye" (1 Pet. 4: 14). But those who love the praise 
of men can not see how they could be happy in re- 
proaches; therefore, they refrain from accepting both 
the doctrine and the experience. 

Others are not willing to consecrate themselves to the 
Lord. They like their own way; they like to make 
their own plans and to do as they please. The doctrine 
of entire consecration does not sound good in their ears. 
It does not meet a response in their hearts. In order, 
therefore, to ease their conscience, they oppose the doc- 
trine. If they do not do this outwardly, they have an 
internal feeling of opposition, and God sees and knows 
it very well. The person who holds such an attitude, 
however, will soon find himself far from God. What- 
ever be the motive that leads to opposition, either to 
accepting the doctrine or to obtaining the experience, it 
can not but react upon the soul with disastrous conse- 
quences. Jesus taught that if any man is willing to do 
his will, he shall know of the doctrine. Let him put 
this doctrine to that test, and he will not fail of under- 
standing it. 



84 Winning a Crown 

What the Word Means 

The word "sanctification" always has two meanings, 
or contains two ideas. These two ideas sustain to each 
other the relation of cause and effect. The two ideas 
in the word are never separated. The first is dedica- 
tion, the second sacredness and purity. The first al- 
ways results in the second; the second can never exist 
(except in God) without the first. There are two kinds 
of sanctification taught in the Bible — one, that common 
to the Old Testament, is a ceremonial sanctification; 
while the other, characteristic of the New Testament, 
nearly always conveys the idea of a moral dedication 
and purification. The theology which makes the word 
mean dedication only is very superficial in its nature. 
I shall call attention to a few examples of this twofold- 
ness of the word as used in the Old Testament. 

Exod. 29 : 9 states that Moses was told to consecrate 
Aaron and his sons. Then follows an account of the 
directions as to how Moses should do this ; and in verse 
21 we read, "And thou shalt take of the blood that is 
upon the altar, and of the anointing oil, and sprinkle it 
upon Aaron, and upon his garments, and upon his sons, 
and upon the garments of his sons with him: and he 
shall be hallowed, and his garments, and his sons, and 
his sons' garments with him." As a result of this con- 
secration and hallowing of the garments, they are in 
verse 29 called 'Hhe holy garments" ; and of the priest 
who had been thus dedicated, it is said "for he is holy 
unto his God" (Lev. 21:7). After telling how to con- 



Entire Sanctificaiion 85 

secrate and sanctify the altar, God said, "Seven days 
thou shalt make atonement for the altar, and sanctify 
it; and it shall be an altar most holy" (Exod. 29:37). 
Again, "And thou shalt anoint the altar of the burnt 
oflFering, and all his vessels, and sanctify the altar: and 
it shall be an altar most holy" (chap. 40: 10). Con- 
cerning the tabernacle and the things belonging thereto, 
God said, "And thou shalt take the anointing oil, and 
anoint the tabernacle, and all that is therein, and shall 
hallow it, and all the vessels thereof: and it shall he 
holy" (vs. 9). From that time forward these were 
called "the most holy things." In Num. 4: 4-15 we find 
a full account of these things and the treatment that 
must be accorded them on account of their holiness. In 
1 Chron. 23:13, we read that "Aaron was separated, 
that he should sanctify the most holy things, he and his 
sons forever." This does not imply that the things 
were holy before they were sanctified, but that they 
became most holy as a result of that sanctification. 

The scriptures quoted show the truth of the state- 
ment already made, that dedication, or the first idea of 
sanctiiication, always produced the second, and resulted 
in the holiness of the object sanctiiSed, whether that 
was an animate or inanimate thing. Whatever was sanc- 
tified became, from that time forth, a sacred and holy 
thing, and might not be used for any but a sacred and 
holy purpose. This use of the word is uniform through- 
out the Scriptures. In the New Testament the same 
twofoldness of thought runs through all the texts re- 
lating to the subject. The purpose of dedication, both 



86 Winning a Crown 

in Old and New Testaments, is that the object may 
be holy; not simply that it may be dedicated, but that 
it may be sacred and holy unto the Lord. 

A Twofold Sanctification 

In the Old Testament there was a double sanctifica- 
tion of the object. In the twenty-ninth chapter of 
Exodus, after giving instructions concerning the sanc- 
tification of Aaron and his sons, the garments, and the 
altar (vss. 21, 35-37), the Lord goes on to say: "And 
there I will meet with the children of Israel, and the 
tabernacle shall be sanctified by my glory. And I will 
sanctify the tabernacle of the congregation, and the 
altar: I will sanctify also both Aaron and his sons, to 
minister to me in the priest's office" (vss. 43, 44). It 
was not enough that Moses and Aaron should sanctify 
these things, but God himself by a separate act must 
also sanctify them. When the tabernacle was completed 
and set up ready for dedication and had been dedicated 
by the priests, the glory of the Lord fell upon it so 
that they could not enter in, and thus the Lord did his 
part of the sanctification. 

This idea of a double sanctification is also brought 
over into the New Testament. We note first man's 
part: "Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, 
let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh 
and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God" 
(2 Cor. 7:1). "If a man therefore purge himself from 
these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, and 
meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good 



Entire Sanctification 87 

work" (2 Tim. 2:21). This is man's part. This he 
must do, so that God may do his part. Through Ezekiel 
God gave a promise relating to His part. "Then will I 
sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: 
from all your filthiness and from all your idols, will I 
cleanse you" (Ezek. 36:25). In Rom. 15: 16 we read, 
"That the offering up of the Gentiles might be accept- 
able, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost"; and again in 
1 Pet. 1 : 2, "sanctification of the Spirit," that is, of the 
Spirit of God. And Jude says, "Sanctified by God the 
Father" (Jude 1). As the result of this twofold sanc- 
tification, believers become "sanctified, and meet for 
the master's use" and "holy and without blame before 
him in love." Of such Jesus said, "Blessed are the 
pure in heart: for they shall see God" (Matt. 5: 8). 

Those who make sanctification a mere dedication miss 
the deepest and most glorious idea which it contains. 
The idea of purification is always included in the word, 
and the idea of the state in which the object is left is 
always that it is pure. It is no longer a common thing 
— it is holy unto the Lord. 

What the Bible Teaches 

Just before Jesus was taken away from the apostles, 
he gave them two promises, or what was equivalent to 
two promises. The first is stated in these words: "If 
ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray 
the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, 
that he may abide with you forever; even the Spirit of 
truth; which the world can not receive, because it seeth 



88 Winning a Crown 

him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for 
he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you" (John 14: 
15-17). The second we find in the seventeenth chap- 
ter where these words are recorded: "Sanctify them 
through thy truth: thy word is truth"; "And for their 
sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanc- 
tified through the truth" (vss. 17 and 19). This, though 
a prayer, amounts to the same as a promise. He clearly 
expressed his will for them. He sanctified himself, 
that is, he dedicated himself to die for them that, through 
the shedding of his blood, they might be sanctified. He 
not only sanctified himself in the sense of dedicating 
himself; but through that sanctification he became, as 
the Savior of men, "holy and harmless," sacred in that 
office. He needed no moral purification. He could 
have none, for he was already pure. Nevertheless, the 
word contains the idea of his being holy in his office as 
a Savior, and this is no exception to the common use 
of the word. 

Did the apostles receive this twofold experience? Let 
us see. In the second chapter of Acts we have the ac- 
count of the coming of the Holy Spirit on the day of 
Pentecost and the perfect fulfilment of Christ's words 
relating to it. Then was his prayer for their sanctifica- 
tion also answered? and if so, when? Peter ought to be 
a very good witness. At the council of the church in 
Jerusalem, Peter said, in reference to the time when 
he went to the household of Cornelius, "And God which 
knoweth the heart, bear them witness, giving them the 
Holy Ghost, even as he diV unto us; and put no differ- 



Entire Sanctification 89 

ence between us and them, purifying their hearts by 
faith" (Acts 15:8, 9). 

In the tenth chapter of Acts Luke gives the story 
of Peter's visit. Cornelius, though a Gentile, was a 
devout and holy man, one that feared God and prayed 
much, and in verses 34 and 35 Peter acknowledges him 
to have been accepted with God. In verses 44-47 he 
gives the account of how the Holy Spirit fell upon those 
who were in Cornelius' house; and in his speech before 
the council Peter declares that the same thing was ac- 
complished there as was accomplished on the day of 
Pentecost, that is, those present received the Holy Ghost 
and their hearts were purified by faith. If the apostles 
were not sanctified when they received the baptism of 
the Holy Ghost, then we have no account that they ever 
received the experience; and if they did not, then 
Christ's prayer was never realized, his answer was 
never granted. Those who make a separation between 
the baptism of the Holy Ghost and the experience of 
entire sanctification do violence to the Sacred Text. 
And those who say that we are sanctified wholly and 
then afterwards receive the Holy Spirit, likewise per- 
vert the gospel. The two — being sanctified and receiv- 
ing the Holy Spirit — can not be separated. They be- 
long together — they belong together in the Bible, and 
they belong together in personal experience. 

Sanctification has two aspects — the negative, relating 
to the cleansing of natural depravity, the cleansing 
which leaves the soul pure; and the positive, relating to 



90 Winning a Crown 

the filling of the soul with the divine fulness by the 
Holy Spirit. Without both these we are not wholly 
sanctified. 



Entire Sanctification — Continued 
Incompleteness of the Regenerated 

^^^len one first enters into the state of regeneration, 
that experience usually seems, not only to satisfy the 
soul, but also to reach beyond one's highest expecta- 
tions. It fills his whole horizon; he sees and can see 
nothing beyond it. In course of time, however, as he 
begins to understand himself more perfectly, he becomes 
conscious of a certain incompleteness. He sees a spiri- 
tual standard lifted up in the Scriptures to which he 
has not yet attained. He reads such texts as the fol- 
lowing: "That ye may be perfect and entire, wanting 
nothing" (Jas. 1:4). "That ye might be filled with 
all the fulness of God" (Eph. 3: 19). "That the man 
of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all 
good works" (2 Tim. 3: 17). "In him verily is the love 
of God perfected" (1 John 2:5). "His love is per- 
fected in us" (1 John 4: 12). He realizes that these 
scriptures do not describe his experience, or at least 
do so only in a limited way. 

As time passes^ he becomes more and more conscious 
of this fact. Not only so, but he feels more and more a 
longing and yearning in his soul for something higher 
— a reaching out, a calling for something he has not 
attained. He may not understand this longing nor feel 
able to express it by words, unless he has been taught 
sufficiently to recognize his need. This yearning of his 
soul is for a something that is real. It is for that heart- 

91 



92 Winning a Crown 

satisfying fulness of God. This yearning followed out 
has led into the experience of entire sanctification many 
souls who had never heard a sermon or teaching of any 
kind upon the subject and did not even know that the 
Scriptures teach that we may enter into such a state. 
I have personally known of a number of such instances. 
One brother told me that he received the experience two 
years before he ever heard a word said upon the sub- 
ject. No stronger proof of two works of grace can be 
produced from any source than this heart-hunger that 
leads one on and on into God and to the full fulfilment 
of his purpose. 

The Test of Experience 

It is a self-evident truth that the testimony of one 
witness who can speak from knowledge gained through 
his own experience is of more value than that of ten 
thousand who know nothing by experience upon the sub- 
ject. There are tens of thousands who have been sanc- 
tified, who know what the fulness of experience means 
because of the work that has been done in their own 
hearts. To spend time arguing with them against its 
reality is to waste words. They know what they are 
talking about; they know what God has done for them; 
they have applied to the doctrine the acid test and 
found it true metal. Once while I was holding a meet- 
ing for a church that believed in entire sanctification, 
an interesting incident occurred. There was a business 
man of that community who had violently opposed the 
doctrine. He had said a great many bitter and harsh 



Entire Sanctification — Continued 9S 

things against its professors. But during my stay there, 
he became very ill. The physician told him that he 
could live only a short time. In his distress he desired 
praj^er, and he sent for a neighbor vrho professed the 
experience of entire sanctification, and whom he had 
violently opposed. Others who did not believe in sanc- 
tification came in and offered to pray for him, but he 
refused to permit any one to do so except that sanctified 
man whom he had before affected to despise. When facing 
death, he wanted the prayers of a man whom he believed 
God would hear, and so he sent for this sanctified man. 
The people who have been and who are mighty to ac- 
complish things in this world for God, have been and are 
people of pure lives and hearts. When not in need of 
prayer, sinners and evil professors may laugh and jeer 
at them ; but when the time comes that they desire to 
draw nigh to God, they know to whom to turn, they 
know whose prayers will be heard and answered. In 
the days gone by the men who turned many to right- 
eousness were men who believed in holiness. Their the- 
ology was sometimes at fault; but their hearts were 
right, and it was because of this that God could work 
through them so mightily in the uprooting of wicked- 
ness. Holiness of heart and holiness of life go to- 
gether. There can be no holiness of life unless there, 
is first holiness of heart. One is the complement of the 
other, and having the one, we naturally live the other. 
And nothing can be more real to the consciousness than 
the assurance of the heart that is thus cleansed. There 
is a satisfying reality in the experience that gives a 



94 Winning a Crown 

person a real knowledge of the work wrought and of 
the state into which he is brought. He has a quiet, 
definite assurance, and in this he rests and is satisfied. 
He knows for himself. All the testimony that may be 
offered contrary to it, affects him not. He knows, and 
he trusts, and he is at peace. 

Haw to Obtain the Experience 

We are sometimes asked to direct people over a road 
which they have never traveled. We may do this to the 
very best of our ability, telling them about all the gen- 
eral characteristics of the way; but notwithstanding our 
best efforts, they are sometimes perplexed and do not 
know just which way to turn, or which way to go; they 
do not and can not understand our explanations and 
directions, and sometimes, even after we have done our 
best to point out the way, they must needs inquire of 
others. The same is true concerning our explanations 
of how to obtain the experience of entire sanctification. 
Make it as plain as we can, there will be some things 
that we can not explain to the satisfaction of the seeker. 
He can only partly understand the things that we tell 
him. When he comes to some place in the road where 
he would put our directions into practise, he may find 
himself perplexed, not knowing what to do; our direc- 
tions fail of being plain to him. 

I used to wonder why the Bible did not make the 
way plainer. I could not understand why the way 
should not be marked out step by step even as others 



Entire Sanctification — Continued 95 

and I tried to mark it out for seeking souls. I tried to 
make the way still plainer, but failed to obtain better 
results. I was much troubled and prayed over the mat- 
ter long and earnestly. When at last the answer came, 
I marveled that I had not understood it before. I saw 
that, if the way should thus be marked out step by step 
with what the teacher supposed to be great clearness, 
souls would often follow it out in a mechanical and 
formal way and would fail to obtain the experience; 
they would not get their hearts into the seeking enough 
to enable them to find. But I saw also that, if the way 
could not be seen as clearly as the seekers would wish, 
their hearts would longingly turn to God, and they 
would seek for him instead of an experience. They 
would seek for him instead of anything else, and in 
seeking him, their hearts would seek aright and find. 
I saw then the wisdom of God's silence. I saw that, 
if the footsteps were sometimes uncertain, it would more 
fully arouse the desire, and that that pent-up desire 
would burst through all obstacles to God. Whatever 
increases the heart's hunger for God, whatever draws 
us out more earnestly to him, is a step upon the way, 
even though it be a step taken "in the dark." God is 
not hard to find. He places no difficulties in the way 
of the one seeking him; but what he desires is that he 
be sought so earnestly that the soul will reach that 
depth of consecration which will make it all his own. 
Though I can not tell all the details as to just how one 
should seek the experience, I can point out a 
few way-marks that may be of benefit to the seeker. 



96 Winning a Crown 

There are some things that a person must needs know. 
Whether this knowledge be obtained through preaching 
or through his own heart's yearnings, it matters not; 
but first of all he must know his need. He must have 
an internal consciousness that there is something more, 
a deeper experience, for him. His heart must hunger 
and reach out after God for higher attainments of grace 
and spirituality. The more conscious he becomes of his 
need, the more certain will he be to seek so as to obtain. 
Also he must believe that there is such an experience as 
he craves obtainable. If he believes teachers who say 
that these heart-longings can never be satisfied in this 
world, he may be discouraged and not seek for satis- 
faction, or at least he may seek only in a half-hearted, 
discouraged way without really hoping to find. There 
are those who would tell him that life is a time of long- 
drawn-out dissatisfactions, of lifelong conflicts with the 
internal corruption. They will tell him that there is no 
remedy for it, no way of having his heart cleansed. If 
he believes this, he will have hard work getting beyond 
his present experience; that false idea will stand as a 
barrier in his way. Therefore it is necessary that he 
have knowledge that he can obtain a higher state of 
grace. Having this knowledge, he can go forward. 

Desire must follow knowledge. I have seen many 
persons seek in a half-hearted, uncertain sort of way, 
not feeling in their hearts that fervency of desire which 
made them earnest in their seeking. Desire is the 
foundation of all true seeking. The more intense that 



Entire Sanctification — Continued 97 

desire becomes^ the more likely the soul is soon to find 
the thing he seeks. 

There must be a consecration or dedication of our- 
selves to God. When we came to him for pardon, we 
sought him with all the ardor of our souls and yielded 
to him so far as we could understand. But now we know 
him better, and we know ourselves better; and we are, 
therefore, able to dedicate ourselves to him in a higher 
and better and fuller and deeper sense than we could 
then. Some tell us that we must consecrate our houses 
and land, our relatives and friends, and everything that 
we possess to him. This is useless. They belong to 
him already. What he wants us to consecrate is our- 
selves. If we ourselves, with every power and resource 
of our being, are his, then everything that belongs to 
us, or everything that has to do with our life, belongs to 
him. All is in his hands to use as he sees fit. The secret 
of consecration is but the yielding of self. Everything 
else may be given up to God, and yet self be held back. 
If such is the case, there is no real consecration; for 
that means that I myself am laid upon the altar of his 
will in a complete and unreserved sacrifice. God must 
have full control. There must be a "yes" in our hearts 
to all his will. We must empty ourselves of everything 
else before we can be filled with God; but when the 
heart is once truly empty, God will come in and fill 
it to the utmost. 

We sometimes hear a great deal about meeting con- 
ditions in order to get sanctified. Let us remember this 
one fact: Nothing that we can do puts God under any 



98 Winning a Crown 

obligation to sanctify us. We may meet all the condi- 
tions we ever heard of, but that does not put God under 
obligation to us. When he does sanctify us, he does so 
by the act of his free grace. We can not purchase sanc- 
tification, we can not earn it, we can not do anything to 
bring ourselves into the experience. The whole work 
is God's work. All our desire and consecration and 
seeking merely serve to remove the barriers that are 
in the way of God's working. When all the barriers 
are removed, then faith reaches forth and opens the 
channel of grace; and when this channel is thrown wide 
open, God's grace runs in as naturally as water runs 
down hill. In Acts 15 ; 9 we are told that the purification 
of our heart is by faith. In Acts 28: 18 we are told that 
we are sanctified by faith in God. Remember God is 
to do the work, but we are to do the believing. 

We can not, however, believe over any obstacles. If 
there is something yet unconsecrated, faith can not 
act. It can overcome all obstructions without, but it 
can not surmount obstructions within ourselves. These 
must be overcome by our own wills, by definite heart 
surrender to God. Faith is simply trusting, just rely- 
ing on God to carry forward his plan in us when we 
give him the opportunity. It is just believing that his 
Word is true, true for us, and true for us right now. 
God will not fail us. He has placed himself under the 
most sacred obligations to do his part, and he will not 
come short. When the soul has poured out itself before 
God until it is conscious that it has reached the full 
depth of its measure, when it realizes that it has done 



Entire Sanctification — Continued 99 

all within its power to do, it may then rest and wait. 
Now has come faith's opportunity. Let her reach forth 
her hand and take hold upon God, and declare "it is 
done." Faith is not a trying to believe; it is not a 
straining and struggling; it is a confident relying upon 
God's promises. Never mind what the emotions are; 
they have nothing to do with the case. God does not 
want our faith to stand in emotions, but in his un- 
changeable Word. When we reach the point where our 
faith does take hold on God, there is an immediate re- 
sult. There comes into our hearts a consciousness that 
God hears us and accepts our offering. Faith always 
brings assurance. This assurance can not come so long 
as the heart is full of doubts; but when faith really 
takes hold upon God, assurance comes. 

We must carefully distinguish between this assurance 
and the emotions that sometimes come along with it. 
Assurance is that inner knowledge by which we know 
that we are wholly the Lord's. It is also the testimony 
of the Spirit of God in our hearts. Its voice can never 
be heard when faith dies; but so long as faith is quick 
and vigorous, its voice is never silenced. When we have 
reached the place to believe, we may confidently believe 
and trust regardless of emotions. We may have no 
emotion or feeling at all, or we may have a variety of 
emotions, one following another. But no matter what 
emotions may come, or what emotions may go, it is om 
privilege to believe. Emotions are superficial; faith goes 
to the very foundation of things, and produces satis- 
factory results. The emotions, no matter how great 



100 Winning a Crown 

they are, will soon subside; but the assurance stays so 
long as faith holds true. If we believe, we need not 
trouble ourselves about the outcome — God will take 
care of that. God wants us to rest calmly, to wait on 
him, to trust him in full assurance. He will see that 
our hearts are fully satisfied. 

An Instantaneous Experience 

Sanctification is often taught as being a state to which 
we gradually attain. It is said that we grow in grace 
and become more and more holy as time goes on until 
finally somehow, someway, sometime, we reach the ex- 
perience of entire sanctification. I have yet to find 
among those who hold to this theory the first person who 
claims to have reached the fulness of the experience. 
They are all still growing, still going toward it but never 
getting there, or never knowing when they do get there 
if they do. The fact is, this is not the method at all. 
Sanctification is not a thing of growth; it is the work of 
God. Growth there is and must be in the Christian life; 
but growth does not change the nature. Only the work 
of God can do that. In every case in the Bible where 
people received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, the 
Spirit "fell upon them," or "they were all filled with 
the Holy Ghost." This baptism was not a gradual 
thing, a thing that came by degrees ; it came suddenly. 
It was a definite something at a definite time and in a 
definite manner, and so it always is. 

Sanctification is received by faith; and being the re- 
sult of an act of faith, it must of necessity be an in- 



Entire Sanctifieation — Continued 101 

stantaneoiis work. A man may be sick and be dying by 
inches, and he may be a long time in this condition, com- 
ing nearer and nearer to death ; but there comes a time 
when he dies. One moment he is alive; the next moment 
he is dead. Death is invariably instantaneous. The 
same is true of sanctifieation. We may draw nearer and 
nearer to God. We may become more and more like 
him. We may yield ourselves more and more to him. 
We may receive more and more of his grace. But we 
can not say that we are wholly sanctified until we have 
fully surrendered self and have received the baptism of 
his Holy Spirit and have been filled with all the ful- 
ness of God. When this is done, an instantaneous work 
of God has been wrought. One man under the influence 
of the Spirit may yield in a few minutes what it has 
taken others years to yield; but in either case the out- 
come is the same, the work of God is the same. 

How to Retain the Experience 

There are two things necessary to the retention of the 
experience of entire sanctifieation. One is faith. The 
other is a life of obedience to God. If we rebel against 
God, we become sinners. If we fail to believe in God, 
we open the door to doubts of all kinds, to fears, troub- 
les, trials, distress, uncertainties, and perhaps despair. 
A mere weakening of our faith under trial will not 
destroy the grace out of our hearts, it will not render 
our hearts impure, neither will it bring us into sin. It 
will, however, destroy that assurance God gives to us, 
and it can not be restored until our faith is restored. 



102 Winning a Crown 

Doubts do not contaminate the soul. We may get 
bothered and feel uncertain, having various sorts of 
fears about our experience, but this will not render us 
impure. When our faith mounts up to God again, the 
assurance will be restored to our souls, and we may go 
on our way rejoicing. Only sin can destroy the expe- 
rience from our hearts. Only sin can drive away the 
Holy Spirit. So long, therefore, as our hearts do not 
turn away from God, we can rely in him. No matter 
what our emotions are, no matter how dark some days 
may seem, no matter how we may be tested, we are 
still sanctified. This subject will be further considered 
in the chapter on Faith. 



Christian Perfection 

The subject of Christian perfection is often greatly 
misunderstood. This is true not only of those who give 
the subject little attention, but also of those who study 
it and sometimes of those who are even teachers of it. 
Texts bearing on different phases of it or not touching 
the subject at all are often jumbled together into a 
hopeless confusion, from which there can come no clear 
knowledge of the doctrine. It is highly necessary, there- 
fore, to "rightly divide the word of truth," applying to 
each phase of the question those scriptures which belong 
to that phase. The connection in which they are used 
determines their meaning. To class the word always 
under one definition is to involve ourselves in endless 
difficulty. We can arrive at the truth only when we 
carefully study each text in its proper connection. 

There are two kinds of perfection — absolute and rel- 
ative. Absolute perfection means perfection in every 
attribute, that is, lacking in nothing and having no im- 
perfection whatever. This sort of perfection can be 
attributed only to an infinite being, and as God is the 
only infinite bein:;', iie alone can be perfect in this 
absolute sense. Hr is perfect in this sense. He is a 
perfectly infinite being, imperfect in not a single at- 
tribute. Such a perfection is unattainable by man either 
in this world or in the world to come, or by any other 
beings of God's creation. It is just as unattainable 
by the angels as by man. In the consideration of Chris- 
tian perfection, therefore, we must needs lay aside this 

103 



104 Winning a Crown 

definition. We must find another sense in which the 
word may be applicable to man. If man is perfect, he 
can be so only in a relative sense. He is finite and im- 
perfect in all his attributes, and he will never be other- 
wise. For this reason his perfection must be judged 
from an entirely different standard from that of abso- 
lute perfection. 

God is perfect in his nature; therefore the acts that 
flow from his nature are perfect acts and reflect nothing 
of imperfection. He always chooses and wills and does 
that which is just and right and holy. He will ever 
be what he is now, and his actions will ever be as they 
are now, so far as their quality is concerned. As already 
stated, we shall always remain finite, so always more 
or less imperfect, and we can not therefore apply the 
word "perfection" in its absolute sense to ourselves. 

Relative perfection means a coming up to or ful- 
filling of some particular standard. This standard re- 
quires certain things, whatever they may be. That 
which possesses those things or qualities is perfect 
judged by that standard. There are degrees of per- 
fection, strange as that may seem, but only as they re- 
late to the relative nature of this perfection. To il- 
lustrate: You walk out into the field and pluck a blade 
of grass. You look it over. You see no imperfections 
in it, and you say, "Here is a perfect blade of grass." 
But look at that insect crawling yonder. It is a higher 
type of life. It possesses a higher organization. It 
has higher and greater powers. It need not stay in one 
place as does the blade of grass, simply waving in the 



Christian Perfection 105 

wind, but it moves about from place to place at will. 
You may take it up and look it all over, or examine it 
with a microscope, and possibly you will find in it no 
defect of any character. If so, you may say that it is 
perfect. But that animal which stands yonder under 
the shade of that tree is a still higher type of life. If 
it possesses no defect, you may say that it also is per- 
fect. Man is a still higher type of life, and if he is 
without defect, he may also be said to be perfect. 

These objects, when compared one with the other, 
are very different. One may be said to be a much more 
perfect type of life than another. When the grass, the 
insect, or the animal is compared with man, it is found 
much inferior. There is, however, a sense in which each 
may be perfect, that is, as a type of the life of which it 
is a specimen. The grass may be perfect as grass, the 
insect as an insect, the animal as an animal, and man 
as a man; but none of them are perfect in the absolute 
sense. It is in this same relative sense that man may 
be perfect as a Christian. He can not be perfect as a 
God, nor perfect as an angel; but he can be perfect as 
a Christian man. To be perfect in a spiritual sense 
means to fill up the measure of God's requirements in 
that particular field. 

What the Scriptures Say 

Jesus recognized the possibility of man's being per- 
fect. To the rich young man he said, "If thou wilt be 
perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor" 
(Matt. 19:21). In the Sermon on the Mount he said, 



106 Winning a Crown 

"Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is 
in heaven is perfect" (Matt. 5: 48). Paul believed that 
men could reach a perfect state. "Howbeit we speak 
wisdom among them that are perfect" (1 Cor. 2:6). 
He not only believed that they could be, but commanded 
that they should be. To the Corinthians he said, "Fi- 
nally, brethren, farewell. Be perfect" (2 Cor. 13: 11). 
Not only did he teach and command perfection, but he 
professed to be perfect. "Let us therefore, as many as 
be perfect, be thus minded" (Phil. 3:15). He also 
taught that provision had been made for the attainment 
of that state. He said that the Scriptures are given 
"that the man of God may be perfect" (2 Tim. 3: 17). 
In Eph. 4:11, 12, he says, "And he gave some, apos- 
tles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and 
some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the 
saints." James speaks on the subject thus: "But let 
patience have her perfect work, that ye may be per- 
fect and entire, wanting nothing" (Jas. 1:4). 

From these Scriptures we are forced to conclude that 
there must be some definite New Testament standard 
of perfection to which man can attain in this life. Other- 
wise these scriptures would be meaningless. This per- 
fection is not something held up to be merely aimed 
at and never realized. It is something to be attained, 
and that attainment is to be reached in this life. It is 
something capable of present and actual realization. It 
is not an idealism; it is a practical reality. Throughout 
the whole New Testament it is so viewed and taught. 



Christian Perfection 107 

The Nature of Christian Perfection 

This perfection is not a perfection in knowledge, wis- 
dom, power, foresight, judgment, or other such quality. 
In this world our knowledge is and will be imperfect; 
our wisdom is often inadequate ; our power will often 
come short of our needs ; our foresight will often fail to 
pierce the future; our judgment will often be mistaken. 
Christian perfection does not imply perfection in any 
of these qualities or attributes. 

The word has different applications in different places ; 
not all texts where the word is used apply to the same 
thing. We need to distinguish carefully between its 
various uses ; unless we do so, we can not have clear 
views upon the subject. In our study, therefore, we 
should give each text a critical examination. Let us 
first notice the application of the term to moral perfec- 
tion. In this sense it means the purification of our 
natures so that they no longer contain any moral cor- 
ruption. This idea is expressed in Heb. 13:20, 3^1, as 
follows: "Now the God of peace, . . . through the 
blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in 
every good work to do his will." The blood of Christ 
was shed solely for purification; it has no other office. 
Therefore this text must refer to a moral cleansing, and 
that cleansing reaches through to the state which is 
here called perfection. Jesus said, "Blessed are the 
pure in heart: for they shall see God" (Matt. 5:8). 
John said, "The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth 
us from all sin" (1 John 1:7). 



108 Winning a Crown 

Paul thus expresses the purpose of God's command- 
ment: "Now the end of the commandment is charity 
out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of 
faith unfeigned" (1 Tim. 1:5). That men could be so 
perfected in their moral natures as to be truly pure 
in heart is expressed by Paul in 2 Tim. 2:22 — "Flee 
also youthful lusts : but follow righteousness, faith, char- 
ity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure 
heart." This shows not only the condition of the heart 
to which man may attain, but also the life which flows 
forth from such a heart. The nature and extent of this 
perfection is thus set forth: "Having therefore these 
promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from 
all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness 
in the fear of God" (2 Cor. 7:1). According to this 
text, it is holiness in which we are to be perfected, and 
Paul defines that as being the result of a cleansing from 
all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, that is, a making 
pure in heart so that there remains no moral corrup- 
tion. The apostle John says, "And every man that 
hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is 
pure" (1 John 3:3). 

Attention has already been called to the fact that 
there is both a divine and a human side to this purifica- 
tion, this perfecting of our moral natures. We are now 
noticing only the final effects, the perfected result. Paul 
says, "Unto the pure, all things are pure" (Tit. 1: 15). 
By this he recognizes the fact that men are pure, and 
we are made pure only by the blood of Christ. 



Christian Perfection 109 

A Purification of the Nature 

This perfection or purification is the purification of 
our natures, so that from our hearts we desire and love 
and seek only what is good. It is the purification of 
our wills, so that we choose God's will ever as our guide 
and the limitation of our lives, and gladly conform our 
conduct to his will. The holy heart sincerely seeks to 
know and do God's will. It is moved only by motives 
that are holy and just. Our attainment of this state 
does not prevent our having all those natural functional 
desires that belong to our being. It only requires us to 
subject these desires to the will of God. God does not 
raise up for us an impossible standard, one to which 
we can not attain. All his ways are just and right and 
wise. He requires of us only what he ought to require 
and only what we can duly render unto him. He has 
made full provisions for our attaining the state of grace 
that he marks out as being in his mind perfect. There 
is nothing unreasonable about his standard. There is 
nothing idealistic ; it is intensely practical all the way 
through. It is only when we misapprehend the subject 
that difficulties appear which are insurmountable. The 
way to this state lies through the grace of God; it is 
not a human attainment independent of grace. 

This perfecting work of God's grace purifies our af- 
fections so that we may love God supremely. All other 
things must take a secondary place. The nearest and 
dearest of earth, and even our own selves, our lives, our 
ways, and our possessions, must be loved less than God. 
He becomes the soul's beloved one, so that we may say, 



110 Winning a Crown 

"My beloved is mine, and I am his." Paul speaks of us 
as being espoused to Christ as a chaste virgin. In this 
experience the strength of our souls is poured out in 
tender affection to him, and in return we receive the 
riches of his love. John expresses it as being the per- 
fecting of our love, or of God's love in us, which amounts 
to the same thing. He says, "But whoso keepeth his 
word, in him verily is the love of God perfected" (1 John 
2:5). 

Again, John says, "Herein is our love made perfect, 
. . . because as he is, so are we in this world" (chap. 
4: 17). From this we see that this perfecting of love is, 
according to John's idea, being like Christ in this world. 
The professor of Christian perfection who does not 
bear the image of Christ upon his heart and manifest 
the life of Christ in his daily deportment does not come 
up to the standard of these scriptures. The man to 
whom God is not nearer than everything else has not 
yet attained unto this grace. There is no such thing 
as a worldly-minded sanctified man. Those who are 
worldly-minded are of the world, but those who are God's 
are minded after the things of the Spirit. Their desire 
runs out after God and the things that will please him, 
and when they enter this perfect state, their desire runs 
stronger and fuller after God than ever before. He fills 
their whole horizon, as it were. Into all the avenues 
of their being comes his Spirit, his power, and his light. 
We may expect to see in the life of a truly sanctified 
man or woman the characteristics of Christ that we see 
pictured in the Bible. "As he is, so are we in this 



Christian Perfection 111 

world," said the apostle. This is the true standard of 
the sanctified life. Christlikeness is the key-note of 
that life. 

Speaking of Christ, John says, "But we know that 
when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall 
see him as he is." Our mortality will be changed, and 
we shall put on immortality, but that is not all: we shall 
be like him spiritually — not made like him when he 
comes, but like him when he does come ; ready and wait- 
ing for him in his likeness. A pure heart and a pure 
life are inseparable from the experience of entire sanc- 
tiftcation or the perfected moral state. 

Perfection of Conduct 

The word "perfection" sometimes relates to our con- 
duct. If the fountain is pure, the stream which flows 
out of it will be pure. Likewise, if the heart is pure, 
the life that flows out of it must of necessity be pure. 
In Matt. 5 : 48 Jesus says, "Be ye therefore perfect, 
even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." He 
had been speaking specifically of conduct. Illustrating 
God's perfection, he says in verse 45, "For he maketh 
his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth 
rain on the just and on the unjust." Our being perfect 
in this regard means that we shall act from the same 
principles and considerations as God acts, and that those 
acts will be of the same character as his acts. It does 
not mean that our acts must needs be as wise as his, nor 
correspond to them in some other regards; but there is 
one thing in which they must correspond to his, and that 



112 Winning a Crown 

is, they must flow forth from love. That love must be 
the underlying and all-powerful spring of our action. 
This is the secret of a sanctified life. God's love, being 
perfected in us, flows out in love to all our fellow men, 
in kindness, gentleness, mercy, forbearance — in fact, in 
all those virtues which are God-like in their nature. 

Back of conduct lies character. This character gives 
quality to conduct. The moral quality of conduct lies 
in the intent, and not in the outcome of the action. The 
things that we do are judged^ not by the wisdom of the 
acts, by their timeliness or success, but by the purpose 
back of them. Pure purposes always arise from a pure 
heart. Through lack of knowledge these pure purposes 
may not always be perfectly translated into pure and 
holy and wise and good actions, at least so far as the 
judgment of our fellow men is concerned. We may 
make mistakes ; we may come short of our expectations ; 
things may not turn out as we supposed they would; 
but out of a pure heart flows only deeds prompted by 
love, and deeds so prompted are always pure in God's 
sight. 

I once heard the testimony of a man who had for- 
merly been a saloon-keeper and an exceedingly wicked 
man. He said, "When I was a sinner, I was wholly 
sanctified to the devil." I was forcibly struck by this 
saying, but I knew, when I considered a little, that it 
was true. In his sinful life he had acted from wholly 
selfish considerations. His heart had contained nothing 
whatever of righteousness. Just as Paul says, "When 
ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from right- 



Christian Perfection 113 

eousness" (Rom. 6:20). There is nothing whatCTcr in 
the sinner's heart that God can count as righteousness, 
and he who gives himself over to do the will of the flesh 
and of sin may truly be said to be wholly sanctified 
to the devil. To be wholly sanctified to God means the 
exact opposite of this. It means that our hearts and our 
lives are conformed to the image of God. Perfect con- 
duct is that conduct which, springing from pure desire 
and pure intent, conforms to God's standard for us here 
in our present situation and state. It is not conforming 
to man's standard or judgment, but to God's. 

However much we may come short of an absolute 
standard, God judges us by quite another standard. He 
judges righteously. He requires all that he should re- 
quire of us, but no more; he is always reasonable. He 
knows our situation; he knows what we can do and what 
we can not do. Whatever conduct flows from pure 
love, that conduct is pleasing and acceptable to God. 
But he who is love and he who knoweth the secrets of 
man's heart can be pleased neither with the heart nor 
with the life of one who does not act solely on the prin- 
ciples of love. This is the supreme test of heart and 
conduct. If his love is truly perfected in us, then will 
our lives be acceptable and well-pleasing in his sight. 

Perfection of Development 

There is a third sense in which the word "perfection" 
is used. This is entirely distinct from those previously 
noted. In this sense it relates to a state of maturity. 
Beginners in the Christian life are represented as being 



il4 Winning a Crown 

bab es f whilt mature Christians are called men. In Eph. 
4:11-15 Pa,ul uses the term "perfection" in relation to 
development. Speaking of the perfecting of the saints, 
he says: "Till we all come . . . unto a perfect man, 
unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: 
that we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and 
fro, and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by 
the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they 
lie in wait to deceive; but speaking the truth in love, 
may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, 
even Christ." This perfect manhood to which we ought 
to attain is the measure of the stature or age of the 
fulness of Christ, and it is attained, as he says in verse 
15, by "growing up into him." 

' We begin our Christian life as new-born babes. It is 
indeed a new existence to us. Old things have passed 
aWay and all things have become new. We begin to 
reach out and explore the kingdom of God. We find 
on every hand glorious realities in the divine life which 
now works in us and works out in our lives. God does 
not expect us to remain always in this immaturity of 
childhood. He has made provisions for our growing 
in grace and in the knowledge of Christ so that we may 
develop our spiritual faculties and our spiritual powers 
and our spiritual understanding. As it has been said, 
"the path of the just is as the shining light that shin- 
eth more and more unto the perfect day." The light 
of the morning may be only a faint gleam, but it in- 
creases and develops until the glorious sun rises in all 
his majesty and the day is made perfect. So the Chris- 



Christian Perfection 115 

tian life from a small beginning goes forward and up- 
ward, increasing in the love and power and grace of 
God, in Christ-likeness, until at last in the fully de- 
veloped strength and glory of Christian manhood, we 
can indeed "shine as lights in the world." 

This subject is illustrated in the fifth chapter of He- 
brews, verses 12-14. The writer there shows that in 
attainment those addressed were only as babes, just like 
beginners, and that they needed to be taught again the 
first principles of the doctrine of Christ. These first 
principles he interprets in the sixth chapter as repen- 
tance, faith, baptism, laying on of hands, resurrection 
of the dead, and eternal judgment. Those believers 
were not such as could eat strong meat; that is, they 
were not able to understand those deeper and greater 
truths which only more mature Christians had the ca- 
pacity to receive and understand. "But strong meat 
belongeth to them that are of full age," that is, those 
who are full-grown, and he explained such to be "those 
who by reason of use have their senses exercised to 
discern both good and evil." 

Coming to Christian perfection, that is, the perfec- 
tion of Christian development, is not a thing of a day 
nor a year. It is a "growing up," a "growing in grace 
and knowledge." This is a perfection entirely distinct 
from the perfection of our moral state and of our con- 
duct. The sanctification of our hearts does not give 
us this Christian maturity. It comes only through the 
exercise of our senses to discern good and evil, and the 
putting into practise of those things which we do discern 



116 Winning a Crown 

to be good. It is the result of conforming to the laws 
of spiritual growth and increase. James speaks of it 
thus: "But let patience have her perfect work, that 
ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing" (Jas. 
1;4). By this he means that in developing patience 
we develop into a state of maturity. This does not 
mean a state beyond which we can not go, but it means 
the same as maturity does in the physical man. The 
same principle applies to all our other powers and fac- 
ulties. They may be developed to such a state of matur- 
ity that we can truly be said to be men in God and for 
God. Spiritual maturity, however, never passes beyond 
the comparative state. It never becomes absolute; for 
we may continue to increase so long as we follow after 
God in this world, and the future world no doubt will 
see a still further increase. 

Some persons seem to remain as babes all through 
their Christian lives. They must be nourished and 
cared for. They are unable to stand alone, it seems. 
They must be guarded and watched and cared for like 
a child. But this is not God's standard for the Chris- 
tian. He ought to go farther; he ought to become more 
mature; he should not be content to be a child all his 
days. God wants him to be a man of strength and power 
for himself and to accomplish things worthy of a man. 

Old Testament Perfection 

The word "perfection" is common to the Old Testa- 
ment as well as to the New, and had a very definite 
meaning. Some of the worthies of the Old Testament 



Christian Perfection 117 

are said to have been perfect men. In Gen. 6:9 we 
read, "Noah was a just man and perfect in his gen- 
eration, and Noah walked with God." God has al- 
ways had a practical standard of perfection, to which 
men could attain if they would. There have always 
been men who attained this standard and whom God 
counted faithful and perfect. "The Lord appeared to 
Abram, and said unto him, I am the almighty God ; walk 
before me, and be thou perfect" (Gen. 17: 1). To the 
whole nation of Israel, God said, "Thou shalt be perfect 
with the Lord thy God" (Deut. 18: 13). This was no 
unattainable standard, but a practical and readily at- 
tainable one. Of Job it is said, "And that man was 
perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and 
eschewed evil" (Job 1:1). In verse 8 God himself 
calls him a perfect and an upright man. When Heze- 
kiah was sick nigh unto death, he had enough confidence 
in his standing before God and in the life he had lived, 
to pray thus: "I beseech thee, O Lord, remember now 
how I have walked before thee in truth and with a 
perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy 
sight" (2 Kings 20:3). David was a man after God's 
own heart. Speaking to Jeroboam, God said, "Thou 
hast not been as my servant David, who kept my com- 
mandments, and who followed me with all his heart, 
to do that which was right in mine eyes" (1 Kings 
14:8). Again, we read, "David did that which was 
right in the eyes of the Lord, and turned not aside from 
anything that he commanded him all the days of his 



118 Winning a Crown 

life, save only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite" (1 
Kings 15:5). 

Of King Asa it was said, "The heart of Asa was 
perfect all his days" (2 Chron. 15:17). The nature 
of this perfection is defined in chap. 14:2 — "And Asa 
did that which was good and right in the eyes of the 
Lord his God." This testimony is repeated in 1 Kings 
15: 14 — "Asa's heart was perfect with the Lord all his 
days." This perfection is defined in verse 11 — "And 
Asa did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord, 
as did David his father." Old Testament perfection, 
then, consisted of doing that which was right and just 
and pleasing in the sight of the Lord. It was quite 
possible, as we have seen, for men so to live; and not 
only was it possible, but some of them did live such 
lives. How many did we are not told, but there were 
many who pleased the Lord and enjoyed his blessing 
and approval. Such men as Abraham, Moses, Caleb, 
Joshua, Samuel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, all the prophets, 
and many thousands of others were worthy examples, 
and God accepted and blessed them in their lives and 
poured out his love upon them. It is quite true that 
these ancient men could not attain that moral per- 
fection which is made possible for us through the shed- 
ding of the blood of Jesus Christ. There had been no 
provision made for the cleansing of their natures, other 
than that of the influence of the Spirit of God upon 
them, and his fear that was in their hearts. This led 



Christian Perfection 119 

them to live a life that was commendable in the sight 
of God. 

In every age God has required perfection, and he has 
given a standard of perfection to which men could at- 
tain, not one which was impossible and altogether out 
of their reach, but one which was reasonable and adapted 
to their circumstances and age. Our privileges at this 
time are greater than the privileges given to men in 
any other age. The gospel age is preeminently the age 
of the Spirit of God, and when he comes into and takes 
possession of the soul of man, he can work in it and 
through it after his own good pleasure in a way never 
possible before the gospel age. In those ancient days, 
however, men oftentimes lived lives that would put to 
shame many professing Christians nowadays and not 
a few professors of entire sanctification. Inasmuch as 
God gives to us much now, he requires of us much more 
than he did of people in former dispensations. But 
this much more which he requires of us is no harder 
of attainment by us than what he required of them 
was by them in their situation. We can, therefore, be 
"perfect and entire, wanting nothing." 

The Bible also speaks of a perfection that is not 
attainable in this life. Paul says, "Not as though I had 
already attained, either were already perfect" (Phil. 
3: 12). Sometimes this text is used to oppose the doc- 
trine of Christian perfection. It is held to mean that 
no one can be perfect in this life, and of course it is 
true that in the sense here meant no one can be perfect 
in this life. The thing of which Paul was speaking, 



120 Winning a Crown 

however, was not moral perfection. In the preceding 
verse he said, "If by any means I might attain unto 
the resurrection of the dead." He was speaking of that 
perfection which shall be ours in the future life, and 
not of anything relating to this life. In another place 
he says, "For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. 
But when that which is perfect is come, then that which 
is in part shall be done away. For now we see through 
a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in 
part; but then I shall know even as also I am known" 
(1 Cor. 13:9, 10, 12). This glorious perfection lies 
beyond the vale, and into it we may not enter until 
this mortal shall have put on immortality. When our 
bodies are changed to the likeness of "his glorious body" 
and we are in the glorified state, then shall we have 
attained this final state of perfection. To it we look 
forward with bright hopes and joyful anticipations. 



The Sanctified Life 
Some Misapprehensions 

There are many misapprehensions regarding the sanc- 
tified life. It will not be possible to mention more 
than a few of them here, nor will it be necessary to 
notice these few in detail. Some such misapprehensions 
are extreme in their nature. A number of years ago 
a religious teacher who at that time was enjoying a great 
deal of notoriety was conversing with a lady who pro- 
fessed the experience of entire sanctification. This 
teacher was an opposer of the doctrine. While talking 
with her upon the subject, he moistened the corner of 
his handkerchief and, watching his opportunity, he 
rubbed it across her neck. As she had just alighted 
from the cars after a long trip, the handkerchief was, 
as he had expected it to be, soiled somewhat. In tri- 
umph he held it up before her, declaring it to be a con- 
clusive argument that she could not possibly be sanc- 
tified. Of course, this was ridiculous, but it showed his 
idea of sanctification. He published the incident with 
much glee in his paper. To him it was conclusive dis- 
proof of the doctrine. 

Although few people make such errors as this, there 
are those who feel that sanctification unfits us for the 
ordinary employments of life. They think it raises us 
up to some sort of superhuman state and quite takes us 
out of and away from ordinary things. This, however, 
is not true. Sanctification purifies our hearts and fills 
us with the Holy Spirit, and we are then more than 

121 



122 Winning a Crown 

ever in a position to be natural in our life. It makes 
us pure and holy, but not superhuman. We are still 
only men with the faculties and powers of men, with 
this added, that the Holy Ghost dwells in us and pos- 
sesses us. 

Another error is that, to maintain such a life, we must 
hold ourselves aloof from others, or that it makes one 
feel that he will be contaminated by contact with others. 
Sanctification does not make us Pharisees. It does not 
take us out of the natural relations of life. It only 
fits us more perfectly for them. Jesus was our perfect 
example in this respect, and he took part in all the 
affairs of life and mingled with all sorts and classes of 
people, yet he kept himself unspotted from the world. 
He was "separate from sinners" even when he mingled 
with them and was most closely associated with them. 
He partook of none of their sins; he kept himself aloof 
from all that was bad in their lives; but in other things 
he partook with them. So may we. We may fill our 
part in the social world and in all the relations of life 
in a way becoming to Christians and in a way that is 
pure and holy. To feel that we are better than others 
and to hold ourselves aloof from them will not attract 
them to our religion; on the contrary, it will make them 
despise us. It is only pride that leads to such an isola- 
tion. We must not partake of the sins of sinners, and 
that sometimes will keep us out of their company; but 
we should not carry the separation farther than is proper. 
We should be sociable and neighborly at all times. 

It is supposed by many and taught by some teachers 



The Sanctified Life 12S 

of holiness that when we are once sanctified we can 
not fall from that state. This too is a misappre- 
hension, a doctrine that the Scriptures do not teach. 
After being sanctified we are still moral agents and 
have the power of choice; we can still choose the evil 
as well as the good. We are in a world of temptation, 
to which we can yield at any time. John 3 : 9 is some- 
times taken to prove that we can not sin if we are sanc- 
tified. It says, "He can not sin, because he is born 
of God." This applies, however, to all that are born 
of God, and must be considered as a moral, not an actual, 
impossibility. We can sin if we will to sin, but if we 
will not to sin, we can refrain from sinning, by the 
grace of God. We can not sin while we love God, nor 
while he has his way in our lives. Heb. 10:29 is con- 
clusive evidence upon this subject. It says, "Of how 
much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought 
worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, 
and hath counted the blood of the covenant, where- 
with he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done 
despite unto the Spirit of grace?" This clearly asserts 
that sanctified people may not only fall, but may be- 
come worthy of sore punishment. 

A misapprehension allied to the one just considered 
is that if we do fall we can not be restored. This finds 
no foundation in the Scriptures. They teach no such 
thing. On the contrary, they teach us that all sin ex- 
cept sin against the Holy Ghost is forgivable; that if 
a man repents he will be forgiven, and not only for- 



124 Winning a Crown 

given, but restored to his former state through the 
grace of God. 

Another and rather common misapprehension is that 
if we are sanctified the human imperfections are all 
gone, and that we shall therefore make no mistakes. 
Such a thing would be possible only if we were made 
infinite in knowledge and power. We shall never be 
so; we shall come short in many things on account of 
the imperfections of our faculties. But mistakes are 
not sinful in their nature and do not contaminate the 
soul. Still another error is the supposition that in 
sanctification all the human passions are destroyed. We 
are still human, and we shall so continue. God created 
the human passions for a wise and good purpose, and 
they still serve that wise and good purpose in the sanc- 
tified. 

The doctrine of entire sanctification is reasonable. 
It appeals to our reason; and if we look at it as it 
really is, it is convincing, it is beautiful and uplifting. 
It excites our admiration and makes us long for the 
experience. 

Justified and Sanctified Life Campared 

There is no small difference between the justified life 
and the sanctified life. The line dividing them is no 
imaginary line. In the justified life we have "peace 
with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." We have 
grace to live above sin; otherwise we could not keep 
justified. We have within our hearts the Spirit of 
adoption whereby we cry, "Abba, Father." This Spirit 



The Sanctified Life 125 

bears witness with our spirits that we are the children 
of God. The blessing of God is upon our lives and 
upon our hearts. We are often enriched by his pres- 
ence. We are often filled with thankfulness and ap- 
preciation, and sometimes our joy overflows. The jus- 
tified life is a high and holy life. It is a glorious life, 
far beyond and above the ways of sin. But above and 
beyond this life is the sanctified life. It not only in- 
cludes all that is good in the justified life, but includes 
all beyond it that it is God's will to give us here. Some 
of these greater things we shall now notice. 

The sanctified life means a closer union with {xod. 
In the justified life the Spirit of God is with us and in 
us as the Spirit of adoption. This Spirit leads, guides, 
and directs our lives. He has a powerful influence 
over us, and it is through his power that we live justi- 
fied lives. In the sanctified life the Spirit of God comes 
into us as the Sanctifier. He comes to us to possess 
us in a new and higher and greater sense than before. 
He comes in all his fulness, glory, and power. He is 
the Comforter, the Preserver, the Sanctifier. When we 
are wholly sanctified, we know from practical experi- 
ence what it means to be "filled with the Holy Ghost.'* 
From henceforth we are the tabernacles in which he 
abides. In us he works the good pleasure of God. This 
important feature often remains almost unnoticed be- 
cause of the great emphasis placed upon the cleansing 
feature of sanctification. The cleansing, however, is 
only a negative thing. It is merely a step in the process 
of God's possessing us more fully ; only a taking out of 



126 Winning a Crown 

the way of barriers to his full possession. The coming 
into our hearts of the Holy Spirit is the really great 
thing in the sanctified experience. 

True, the cleansing is very necessary; there can be 
no sanctification without it; and the Spirit will not 
come into us until we are cleansed; but if we magnify 
too much this particular feature, it will cause us to 
base our hope of sanctification or our faith in our sanc- 
tification on what we consider as the internal evidences 
of that cleansing. This opens the door to all sorts of 
spiritual trouble. This is the reason why so many peo- 
ple never become established. They are always looking 
within at their own feelings, their own emotions, and 
the things that concern them; whereas the real question 
is. Is the Holy Ghost abiding in me? Has the Holy 
Ghost come into my heart? Is it he who is working 
therein to do the good pleasure of God? 

Let us not overlook this fact, that in sanctification 
there is a presence with us, an abiding presence ever 
and always with us. I do not mean that it is always be- 
ing manifested to our emotions and our sensibilities; it 
is, however, always present in our lives; its power is 
there, and it is working there whether we can feel it 
and be conscious of it or not. The Spirit is not always 
saying to us, "I am here, I am here, I am here." He 
is often quiet, but when the need comes, he shows his 
presence and his power. A wire may be highly charged 
with electricity, and still we can not discern the fact by 
looking at the wire, nor by listening to it, nor by any 
motion that it may have; but when there is opportunity, 



The Sanctified Life 127 

that power is manifested. So it is with the Spirit in 
our lives. Sometimes we can not tell by our feelings 
that he is present, nor by any emotion nor in any other 
way except through faith ; but if he is there, when the 
opportunity and the need come, he M'ill manifest himself 
and will work and show that he is indeed the Spirit of 
God. After he comes into us, he is never absent, unless 
we grieve him away. We must carefully distinguish 
between his presence and his manifestations. If we do 
not, we throw open the door for all sorts of doubts. 

In sanctification there is a deepening and enriching 
of the spiritual life. To suppose that we are sanctified 
when the current of life runs no deeper and is no richer 
than before is to be mistaken. All the fruits of our 
righteousness are increased. All the graces of the Spirit 
are multiplied. How inconsistent it is for one to pro- 
fess to be sanctified when his life is superficial and 
occupied by frivolities and trifles ! and how sad it is to 
hear the lament of such a one when he cries out, "My 
leanness, my leanness"! Is this truly the sanctified 
state .'* Is this all that it means ? I grant that peo- 
ple who have once been really sanctified may come to 
such a state, but how sad that state and how far from 
the normal condition of a sanctified life ! God means 
that we have a bountiful supply of his grace; that we 
be rich in grace, in faith, and in all the things that go 
to make up the experience of entire sanctification. The 
sanctified man has a heart full of treasures. If he grows 
impoverished and lean, it is because he is well on the 
way to a backslidden state. The channel of grace has 



128 Winning a Crown 

become closed, and the supply has been cut off. The 
Spirit of God is hampered and hindered, and his spir- 
itual life is not normal in any respect. Sanctification 
touches and enriches the deepest depths of man's nature. 
It brings out all his better qualities, and increases and 
develops them; and as the years go by and he de- 
velops more and more in the divine life, he is more and 
more enriched and ripened, and more and more glorifies 
God. 

The sanctified life excels the justified life in power. 
The coming of the Holy Spirit means that we receive 
an enduement of heavenly power. Jesus said, "Ye 
shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come 
upon you" (Acts 1:8). The Holy Ghost is not a 
weakling; instead, he is clothed with all the power of 
the Almighty. When he comes into our souls as an abid- 
ing Comforter, it means the bringing into us of a power 
that never was there before. It is not a power that 
seizes hold of us and makes us do unseemly things; it 
is not a power that takes hold of us and operates us 
independently of our own will. God does not act in 
this way. He acts in us only when he can act in con- 
formity to our will and his own at the same time. The 
power that we receive is a power to be what God designs 
that we shall be in our inner lives. It is the power to 
be victorious over sin, and the power to rule our own 
lives. It is the power of self-control^ and the power to 
yield to God and be completely under his control. It 
is the power to be pure within. It is the power to be in 
subjection to the will of God. It is the power to love 



The Sanctified Life 129 

God with a pure heart fervently. It is the power to 
keep from loving other things more than we should. 
It is the power to preserve our spiritual balance. 

It is power over temptations, so that they may not 
rule us, so that we may resist and conquer them, no mat- 
ter what may be the form in M'hich they come nor the 
strength with which they come. It is the power that 
gives mastery over natural desires. It is the power to 
say "no" and to enforce it. It is the power to keep 
under our bodies, to keep them in subjection to the 
will of God. It is the power to live right in our every- 
day life. It is the power to translate the Bible into 
human life in all its beauty and grace. 

It is the power that enables us to overcome timidity 
and man-fear and to be witnesses for Christ. It not 
only enables us to witness for Christ, but puts into that 
witnessing a power that makes it convincing and effec- 
tive. Many a sermon is powerless and many a testi- 
mony falls flat because the power of the Holy Ghost 
is not in it and through it. Look upon the timid apos- 
tles, fearing and shrinking before the day of Pentecost, 
and behold them thereafter. WTiat boldness ! what 
power! what authority! What was it that wrought all 
this change? It was the coming of the Holy Spirit 
upon them in power. He wants to come into our lives 
in like manner and mark them with his power. He 
wants to put into our words the same power that he put 
into the words of Peter and John. He wants to put 
into our hearts the same boldness that they had, the 
same unshrinking courage and fortitude. How many 



1'30 Winning a Crown 

sermons are merely words^ words, words ! How little 
the hearers are moved ! how little they are pricked in 
their hearts ! Ah ! the power of the Holj'^ Ghost is not 
there ! But when we are full of might and of power by 
the Spirit of the Lord, the words that we speak have 
in them this power of the Holy Ghost to take hold upon 
men's hearts, to stir them to consider their condition, and 
to make them feel that it is the voice of God and not 
the voice of man that is speaking to them. He will 
manifest himself not only in public testimony, but in 
our ordinary conversations. If we are full of the Holy 
Ghost, his power and presence will manifest themselves 
in our words, and they will be effective in bringing con- 
viction to the hearts of those who hear. Empty words 
are of little avail. Words full of the Holy Ghost and 
power are full of something that touches the spring of 
life. 

This enduement of power fits us to serve. A truly 
consecrated man is one who is willing to fill his hands 
with busy labors for the Lord. He is saved to serve. 
He does not serve for honor, for the applause of his 
fellow men; he serves because he delights to do so. The 
sanctified man does not need to be offered a reward in 
order to be induced to serve; he does not have to be 
bribed to do his duty. If honor comes, well and good, 
but he does not live for honor alone. He serves not for 
what he may receive, but he counts serving a privilege. 
There is a disposition among many "holiness" people 
to want to be the "beU sheep." They strive to excel 
that they may be leaders. Such a disposition does not 



The Sanctified Life 181 

come from the workings of the Holy Spirit. It is from 
man^ pure and simple. It is opposed to the Spirit of 
God and his workings. If we are sanctified, we are 
willing to serve even in an unnoticed capacity. We 
are willing to serve as unto the Lord and not unto man. 
We are willing to serve whether we are praised or crit- 
icized, whether men tak« note of what we do or disre 
gard it. It is true that we still have the faculty of 
approbativeness, and not only desire the approval of 
others/ but feel that when we do well we merit proper 
recognition and approval, and we feel encouraged when 
we receive such; but the true heart is willing to go 
forward and do for God even if men withhold what is 
due. It will serve whether conditions are favorable or 
unfavorable. 

When we are wholly sanctified, we have power to 
accomplish for God, and need not be faltering and weak 
workers; but, being clothed with the power of the Holy 
Spirit, we accomplish what others can not do, not be- 
cause we are greater than they, but because he that work- 
eth in us is greater than he that worketh in the world. 
Oh, for more men and women with the power of the 
Holy Ghost in their souls ! That is the need of the hour. 
That is the need of the world. "Ye shall receive power" 
is the promise. Reader, has that been made true in 
your own life? Is the power of Christ resting upon 
you — thie power to be and to do and to act for Christ, 
the power to witness, the power to conquer, the power 
to serve? It is your privilege to have it; it may be 
your possession. 



1S2 Winning a Crown 

In this higher life there is a greater illumination of 
the spiritual understanding. The Spirit takes the things 
of Christ and shows them unto us. He broadens and 
elevates our vision. He reveals to us the mysteries of 
God. He unlocks the secret of the Scriptures and makes 
us to truly know the Almighty. Our spiritual percep- 
tion increases in keenness, so that we can understand 
more readily the things of the Spirit. The Bible some- 
times appears as a new book. Jesus promised that 
when the Spirit of truth was come, he should guide us 
into all truth. This does not mean that he will lead 
us into all truth at one time, but that step by step he 
will lead us from truth to truth; and not only so, but 
he will protect us against error if we will carefully fol- 
low his leadings. 

Entire sanctification brings us into an evenness of life 
and temperament not possible before. It brings a sta- 
bilizing of our lives, so that we are not so easily moved 
by outside influences. We are not tossed to and fro by 
every wind of doctrine like children. We are not easily 
affected nor moved by every one's opinion. Our feet 
are planted on the Rock of Ages; we are solidly an- 
chored there. Sanctification brings a calmness into our 
lives. It is like oil on the troubled waters of life. There 
is a holy quietness that broods over the soul and keeps 
it serene. 

People do not backslide from the sanctified life every 
little while and get restored to it over and over. Those 
who claim to do so, do not reach this grace. It is not 
an "up-and-down" life. One of the qualities of truly 



The Sanctified Life ISS 

sanctified souls is their stedfastness. They are set- 
tled^ established, rooted, and grounded in God; there- 
fore they arc not swept off their feet every little while. 
Doubt may sometimes cloud the life and obscure the 
light and dim the assurance; but the sanctified state is 
far removed from sin, and people do not, except under 
extraordinary circumstances, fall from a high state of 
grace into sin. There is almost always a preparation 
for sin by a previous declension of the spiritual life. 
Backsliding from a sanctified life is not merely step- 
ping over a line; we must go far before we reach that 
line. It is true that we may sin at any time, but we 
are not inclined to sin. It is not a "prone to wander, 
Lord, I feel it" experience. Sin is unnatural to the 
purified man. His natural element is holiness. In it he 
delights. It is only when the channel of grace is ob- 
structed so that it no longer flows into his heart as be- 
fore that spiritual declension begins. He may decline 
rapidly, for it is not possible for him to be spiritual 
without this inflow of grace; but it is only when his 
supply of grace has greatly dwindled that sin comes 
to have any attraction for him. In the normal state it 
repels him, and he repels it. It is obnoxious instead 
of attractive to him. So long as his experience is nor- 
mal, he is altogether unlikely to do that which is evil. 



Sin 

Sin is a subject upon which there are widespread mis- 
understandings. There is a great variation in the teach- 
ing of religious men upon it. Preachers say very con- 
tradictory things about it. The greatest cause of this 
is the lack of a definite standard. The absence of such 
a standard leads to endless confusion and contradiction. 
There can be no agreement unless there is first an in- 
variable definition. I have seen men who agreed in 
principle, but who, because of a lack of definite, in- 
variable definitions of the terms they were using, would 
argue for hours and could reach no common under- 
standing. One of my present tasks, therefore, will be 
to supply such an invariable definition. The Scrip- 
tures speak upon the subject in no uncertain tone, and 
if we will but 'rightly divide the Word of truth,' we 
may proceed with certainty to our conclusion. 

There are many who teach a life free from sin. They 
say that the Christian is not a sinner ; that instead of 
working evil, he works righteousness. Those who have 
a different standard of sin condemn them for thus teach- 
ing, and say that they are raising an impossible stand- 
ard and are making Pharisees of the people. There are 
others who teach that we sin more or less every day in 
word, thought, and deed, and that there can be no 
higher standard of Christian life or Christian attain- 
ment. As an example of this teaching, I quote from a 
book published by the American Tract Society. The 

134 



Sin IS5 

quotations below are from "Prayers for Family Wor- 
ship." I quote only the prayer for sin. 

"MORNING FAMILY PRAYER 

"Hear thou us, . . . forgiving our sins . . . guard 
us through this day and keep us from evil." 

"EVENING FAMILY PRAYER 

"We beseech thee to forgive the sins we have com- 
mitted this day, and wherein we have omitted duties 
or have failed in any way, do thou mercifully pardon, 
. . . take from us all love of sinning." 

"SUNDAY MORNING PRAYER 

"We confess, O Lord, our many sins and transgres- 
sions. We have left undone those things which we 
ought to have done and we have done those things which 
we ought not to have done. Amid the affairs of this 
world we have forgotten thee. Give unto us true re- 
pentance. Forgive our sins." 

"SUNDAY EVENING PRAYER" 

"Pardon in thy mercy the sins that mingle with all 
our worship and service." 

It would be utterly astonishing to think of any one's 
making this the standard of Christian life did we not 
know that it comes from the lack of a Biblical definition 
of sin. If a man who knows what sin really is should 
use that formula of prayer, he would deliberately insult 
God and his own reason. What sinner could do worse 



136 Winning a Crown 

than indulge in the sins therein mentioned? What sin- 
ner's life is more culpable? 

The Bible says, "Whosoever is born of God doth not 
commit sin" (1 John 3:9). According to its teaching, 
Christians are not sinners, and sinners are not Chris- 
tians. We are therefore brought face to face with the 
question, What is sin? 

Evil and Moral Evil 

We need to make a clear distinction between evil and 
moral evil. Animals can do evil, but not moral evil. 
Animals can destroy property or even human life, and 
that is a great evil^ but for them it is not a moral evil. 
Only moral beings can do moral acts, either good or bad. 
The feelings, desires, and acts of animals can not pos- 
sess a moral quality, inasmuch as they possess no moral 
nature. Their acts, however evil in their nature, can 
not be sin. All their activities are unmoral, that is, they 
have no moral quality whatever and can not be judged 
by any moral standard. Man, however, is a moral be- 
ing; therefore his acts are either moral or immoral; 
that is, if they involve the question of morality at all. 
In the common acts of life the question of morality does 
not ordinarily enter, our acts being on the same plane 
as those of the animal ; that is, when we eat, drink, walk, 
run, play, laugh, etc., no moral principle is involved, 
and therefore the acts are not moral in their nature, but 
unmoral. Being only the natural and lawful function- 
ing of our being, they have no moral quality. They 
are neither good or bad, considered alone. Let us hold 



Sin 137 

in mind throughout the further consideration of this 
subject the distinction here drawn between evil and 
moral evil. 

Two Staniiards of Sin 

There are two standards of sin, or two standards from 
which moral action is considered and judged. One is 
the absolute standard. Judged by it, whatever contains 
moral evil of any sort is sin. Any violation of the prin- 
ciples of the moral law, no matter how slight and no 
matter under what circumstances, is sin. Whether the 
person has any knowledge of the right and wrong of 
the act, whether he does it wilfully or accidentally, 
whether consciously or in unconsciousness, matters not ; 
it is a violation of moral principle and is therefore sin. 
The other standard is that of imputed sin. Paul tells 
us that sin is not imputed where there is no law. This 
standard takes into consideration all the circumstances 
surrounding the case and having to do with it, no mat- 
ter how slight their bearing upon it. The state of the 
individual, his knowledge, his intentions, and all other 
accidents of the case have their bearing under this 
standard and must be taken into consideration in deter- 
mining the guilt. These thoughts will be further en- 
larged later on. 

Four Laws for Man at Standards of Sin 

There are two kinds of moral law. One is the sub- 
jective, or that primitive knowledge of right and wrong 
which God has implanted in mankind and which is the 
basis of the action of conscience in those who have no 



1S8 Winning a Crown 

revelation and possibly to some extent is operative in 
those who have a revelation. The other is objective 
law, or the direct revelation of God's will. 

There are, or have been, four different laws by which 
God has judged sin. Some one of these has made man 
responsible to his Creator in each age of the world. 
There is, first, that subjective law which the heathens 
are under — sometimes called "the law of conscience." 
Contrasting it with the law which was given by revela- 
tion, Paul says, "For as many as have sinned without 
law shall also perish without law: and as many as have 
sinned in the law shall be judged by the law; for when 
the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the 
things contained in the law, these, having not the law, 
are a law unto themselves : which show the works of the 
law written in their hearts, their conscience also bear- 
ing witness, and their thoughts the meanwhile accusing 
or else excusing one another" (Rom. 2:12, 14, 15). 
This primitive subjective law, supplemented by their 
reason, was a sufficient law to establish in their minds 
the standard of righteousness. It is the law that the 
heathen are under. They have no direct revelation of 
God, but they are not excusable in doing evil. That 
"inner light" of reason and conscience gives them a 
standard. Imperfect it may be, yet it is real. Judged 
by that standard, their conduct is either right or wrong 
so far as moral quality is involved in action. 

Another law is the revealed law under which people 
lived from Adam to Moses. At various times God has 
revealed himself to the race or to members of the race 



Sin 1S.9 

in various ways, and these revelations, so far as they 
were known, became to men laws under which they were 
to live. To Adam and liis posterity, God revealed the 
true principles of righteousness. Of the limits of this 
law we know ver}^ little at the present time. It was, 
however, sufficient to make them morally responsible 
to Gx)d, and by it they will be judged in the last day. 

To Moses God gave a whole code of laws for the 
governing of Israel and those strangers who might abide 
with them. It was a more complete law than any that 
had preceded it; it revealed more broadly and more 
fully the principles of righteousness. It was, however, 
only temporary in its nature, leading up to the gospel. 

Since the coming of our Lord and his sacrifice on 
Calvary, the gospel has been the standard for all men, 
so far as they have been brought under its teaching and 
influence. It is the highest and most perfect revelation 
of moral principles that has ever been given to man or 
that will be given to him in his earthly state. By it all 
who hear it will be judged in the last day. 

Sin Under the Old Testament 

Under the Old Testament there was an absolute 
standard of sin. All violation of the law, no matter of 
what nature nor under what circumstances, was im- 
puted as sin, except in some specific instances. Some- 
times a person had to violate one law in order to keep 
from violating another, as, for instance, when a priest 
did servile work on the Sabbath in offering the sacrifices 
commanded. In such and similar cases the person was 



140 Winning a Crown 

not counted guilty. Ordinarily, however, all breaking 
of the law, no matter of what nature, was considered 
sin. Whether it was done wilfully or ignorantly, pur- 
posely or accidentally, it brought guilt upon the indi- 
vidual. "Every transgression . . . received a just 
recompense of reward" (Heb. 2:2), says Paul. Not 
only was this true of those wilful transgressions which 
were so common among the Israelites and which drew 
down the vengeance of God upon them so frequently, 
but it was also true of the sins of ignorance and their 
"unwitting" sins. Of these sins of ignorance we read: 
"And if any one of the common people sin through 
ignorance, while he doeth somewhat against any of the 
commandments of the Lord concerning things which 
ought not to be done, and be guilty; or if his sin, which 
he has sinned, come to his knowledge : tlien he shall bring 
his offering . . . for the sin which he hath sinned" 
(Lev. 4:27, 28). In Num. 15:27, 28, we read: "If 
any soul sin through ignorance, then he shall bring a 
she goat of the first year for a sin-offering. And the 
priest shall make an atonement for the soul that sin- 
neth ignorantly, when he sinneth by ignorance before 
the Lord, to make an atonement for him; and it shall 
be forgiven him." Practically the same thing is said 
of the whole congregation of Israel in Lev. 4: 13-15 and 
Num. 15:22-26. Nor were the priest and the ruler 
forgotten. Provision was made for their cleansing from 
the sins of ignorance (see Lev. 4:3, 22-23). 

Thus, we observe that there was no excuse made for 
sin, but that a man became guilty of sin if he violated 



Sin 141 

any of the precepts of the law. That law did not take 
into consideration any of the circumstances attending the 
act. It judged the act as an act, and the man was 
cither condemned or approved because of the act. If 
he kept the law, he lived by keeping it; if he broke it, 
the penalty must be reaped. 

Two Classes of Sin 

Considered from the standpoint of the nature, there 
were two classes of sin under the old covenant. One 
class were those sins which involved a breaking of the 
moral law, or which in their nature involved the violation 
of moral principles. These were such as adultery, mur- 
der, lying, theft, and the like. They were such things 
as in their nature are wrong regardless of whether there 
is a law given that forbids them. The other class of 
sins were ceremonial sins, such as breaking the law of 
the Sabbath, eating unclean meat, the neglect of any of 
the ceremonies commanded, and, in fact, any violation 
of the ceremonial law. The Israelites might neglect 
some of the holy days or the ceremonies of purification, 
or omit some of the feasts, but no matter what they 
did or omitted to do that broke the ceremonial law, the 
violation was a ceremonial sin and they had to make 
atonement for it the same as for those moral evils which 
they might do. This twofold classification of sin as 
relates to its nature we must keep in mind if we are to 
understand the Old Testament, or if we are to com- 
pare its teaching with that of the New Testament and 
see the two in their true relation. 



142 Winning a Crown 

Two Times of Guilt 

Under the Mosaic law there was one class of sin of 
which the individual became immediately guilty, and 
another of which he did not become guilty until he 
learned of the sin. Of the first class we have an ac- 
count in Lev. 6: 1-7. These were such sins as the 
transgressor knew to be sins when he committed the 
acts. He sinned against knowledge and therefore be- 
came immediately guilty. The other class were those 
sins done ignorantly and unwittingly. Of these we 
read in Lev. 5:3-6, 10, 13, 17-19. I quote verses 
17-19: "And if a soul sin, and commit ^.ny of these 
things which are forbidden to be done by the command- 
ments of the Lord; though he wist it not, yet is he guilty, 
and shall bear his iniquity. . . . And the priest shall 
make an atonement for him concerning his ignorance 
wherein he erred and wist it not, and it shall be for- 
given him. It is a trespass-offering. He hath certainly 
trespassed against the Lord." Of this class of sins it 
is said, "When he knoweth of it, then shall he be guilty" 
(verse 3). The same is repeated in verse 4. 

These two types of guilt, immediate and deferred, we 
must keep in mind if we are to understand the dif- 
ference between sin in the Old Testament and sin in 
the New, for the New Testament regards no such 
classification. The standards of sin being different, wc 
should naturally expect the language concerning sin to 
be different in the two Testaments ; so unless we observe 
this difference of standards, we can not make the proper 



Sin 143 

distinction between the teachings of the two books, nor 
have a clear understanding of the subject of sin. 

Three Classes of Sin 

As relates to guilt, there were three classes of sin 
under the Old Testament. The first class consisted of 
presumptuous or high-handed sins. These were the 
grosser sins, as murder, blasphemy, adultery, and others 
of like nature. For these there was no forgiveness. He 
who sinned presumptuously, or despised God's com- 
mandment and sinned "with a high hand," had to meet 
the death penalty. The only question was his guilt; 
if that was once established, the penalty must be in- 
flicted. The next class were sins wilful in their nature, 
though less serious than the former. They were such 
as lying, stealing, swearing, cheating, and sins of a 
like nature. They were forgivable. There were cer- 
tain penalties attached, but not the death penalty. They 
were forgiven if proper atonement was made. The third 
class was ignorant or unwitting sins, and these also were 
forgivable. The acts were sins and brought guilt whether 
the will was involved or not, yes, even if they were ac- 
cidental or unavoidable. (It might be noted here that 
accidental defilement when not known became sin when 
known, probably because the person had omitted the 
prescribed cleansing when cleansing was required and 
had perhaps done things when so defiled that were for- 
bidden to the unclean. Such uncleanness was not ordi- 
narily sinful. See Lev. 11:24, 25, 31, 39, 40.) This 



144 Winning a Crown 

classification of sins is not extended into the New Tes- 
tament. 

Imperfect Standard of Sin in Old Testament 

In speaking of the old covenant^, Paul said that it 
was weak and faulty, and that it was because of this that 
God took it out of the way and gave us a better one. 
Because of its weak and faulty nature, it was not fitted 
to be a permanent standard. It was not based on exact 
standards of justice and could not be under the circum- 
stances. The Israelites had not yet developed to a 
state of spiritual or moral understanding that would 
render it possible to reveal to them such a law as the 
New Testament. It was necessary first to develop in 
them a sense of holiness and purity. This they pos- 
sessed in some degree, but in a very low degree. A 
perfect standard, therefore, would have been too high 
for their attainment, and would have defeated its own 
end. For this reason it was necessary for God to give 
them a less perfect standard, that he might develop them 
and bring them to the point to receive this higher stand- 
ard which he had for all the race. 

To develop in them this sense of holiness and purity, 
he hedged them around with all sorts of restrictions, 
things which seem to us entirely unnecessary and which 
would be unnecessary to people as highly developed in 
knowledge as we are. The division of meats into clean 
and unclean was a great step in this direction. The 
ceremonial defilement produced by touching a dead body 
or an unclean thing, or by being a leper or having some 



Sin 145 

other unclean disease, went far to establish in their 
minds the idea of holiness. Under the New Testament 
we have no such distinctions, there being no need of 
them; but they were absolutely necessary to bring Israel 
to understand the meaning of holiness and purity. The 
New Testament standard is based on the true principles 
of right and justice; it contains no such arbitrary ele- 
ments. Right is right because it is right, and wrong 
is wrong because it violates some principle of right. 

Again, the old law was a civil as well as a moral 
law, and so in many things it had to be of an arbitrary 
nature. The New Testament law is fundamentally 
a moral law, with but few ceremonial observances added. 
It leaves to the civil powers the making and enforcing 
of civil laws. Sin under the old covenant was of neces- 
sity a very different thing in many respects from sin 
under the New Testament. It was to emphasize this 
distinction that I have gone so far into the subject and 
given such a lengthy analysis. It all leads upward to 
a correct understanding of the New Testament view 
of sin. 



Sin — Continued 
Explanation of Old Testament Texts 

The distinction of the various kinds of sin already 
made will help us to explain some texts in the Old Tes- 
tament that point out man as a sinner all through his 
life. It is a mistake to bring them over to New Testa- 
ment times and apply them to the New Testament 
standard of life. They were meant for the Old Testa- 
ment and its standard of life and sin, and have no rela- 
tion whatever to the New. Such texts as "There is not 
a just man upon earth_, that doeth good, and sinneth 
not" (Eccl. 7:20) and "There is no man that sinneth 
not" (1 Kings 8:46), ought never to be applied to the 
question of sin as it relates to us today. Few men 
besides the priests were acquainted with the law suf- 
ficiently to know when they were doing some things 
forbidden by it. There were few copies of the law 
outside of the temple and the synagogs. Certain ones 
said contemptuously in the time of Christ, "This people 
who knoweth not the law are cursed." They were likely 
to commit sins of ignorance at any time; especially 
were they likely to violate the ceremonial law or to be 
contaminated by some uncleanness. Not only did they 
have to make atonement for themselves every now and 
then as individuals, but atonement had to be made on 
the great Day of Atonement every year for the whole 
nation. These and similar texts must be understood 
as relating to their time and situation. 

14S 



Sin — Continued 147 

David said: "I acknowledge my sin unto thee, and 
mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess 
my transgressions unto the Lord; and thou forgavest 
the iniquity of my sin. For this shall every one that 
is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be 
found" (Psa. 32:5, 6). I used to wonder why the 
godly were the ones who confessed their sins and asked 
for forgiveness, but since getting a clear view of Old 
Testament sins, I understand. It was natural that 
those who had a conscience toward God should be the 
ones most likely to confess their sins and to pray for 
forgiveness. Those who were less conscientious and 
less godly would be inclined to be indifferent if they 
did violate some of the commands of God. They would 
not be so careful to keep the ceremonial law, and in- 
fractions of it would not mean so much to them as to 
the godly; the godly would pray, while the others would 
not. 

We turn now to the New Testament, and in it we 
shall find a simpler and truer standard. 

Sin Under the New Testament 

Sin is dealt with in the New Testament from a dif- 
ferent angle from that from which it is viewed in the 
Old Testament. In the New Testament sin is not con- 
sidered from the absolute standpoint. Sin is imputed 
only on the principles of justice. A man is imputed 
guilty only when he sins in a manner that makes him 
fully responsible for the act. A thing is not imputed 



t4% Winning a Crown 

as sin simply because it i$ an infraction of a perfect 
moral standard; various modifj'^ing circumstances are 
considered and each given its due weight. The New 
Testament does not recognize any ceremonial sin. It 
defines sin as moral evil, and that alone. It does not 
classify meats and animals as clean and unclean, nor 
regard any form of disease as rendering one spiritually 
unclean. It takes no note of uncleanness except un- 
cleanness of the moral faculties and of the acts that 
flow from such moral uncleanness. Ceremonial sin has 
no place whatever in the gospel economy. In the Old 
Testament there was a remedy provided, so that those 
who became unclean or sinned ceremonially might be 
cleansed; but under the new covenant we find no such 
provision made for such cleansing. The only cere- 
monial cleansing found in the New Testament is bap- 
tism, and that is "not the putting away of the filth of 
the flesh" nor any ceremonial uncleanness, but has its 
reference distinctly and altogether to moral impurity. 
In the New Testament there is no such thing as 
accidental sin nor unwitting sin. Its definition of sin 
includes nothing of this kind. It is quite true that 
many present-day teachers do include such in their 
definition of sin, but this is incorrect and out of har- 
mony with the teachings of the Scripture. Under the 
gospel, nothing but moral evil, that is, that which in- 
volves the moral nature of man, is sin. To be guilty 
of a moral evil, man's moral faculties must be involved. 



Sin — Continued 149 

Definition of Moral Evil 

A moral evil is any act or attitude that disrupts or 
disturbs the moral relation of moral beings or that sets 
up antagonism between them. All moral creatures nat- 
urally have certain rights and privileges, such as the 
right to have life, liberty, liappiness, to possess what is 
theirs, etc. ; and the moral relation of such beings is such 
that all these rights and privileges of each individual 
can be maintained undisturbed. Anything that en- 
croaches on the moral rights of another, whether that 
other be God or a fellow being, is sin. Whenever we 
wilfully wrong our fellow man in anything, we sin 
against him and also against God. The normal state 
of all moral beings is one of moral correspondence and 
harmonious relation, so that the full rights of each is 
conserved and the highest happiness and good of all 
maintained. Sin is a thing of relation. It is not a ques- 
tion of the intrinsic value of the act. To blaspheme a 
god whom we know exists in name only, can not be sin; 
for it can not change our relation, and when there is 
no change of relation, there can be no sin. If we were 
to blaspheme God, it would be sin, because it would be 
doing him an injustice and robbing him of the respect 
and reverence due him, and would create a discordant 
relation, for which we would be to blame. 

What Gives Quality to Action 

The moral quality of an act does not depend upon its 
wisdom, its timeliness, nor its success. In the respon- 



150 Winning a Crown 

sible, moral sense, quality never lies in the act itself con- 
sidered alone, nor in the results that flow from it. Acts 
that are identical may, and often do, differ greatly in 
moral significance. We must invariably go back of the 
act to find its quality Sin lies always in the will, and never 
in the act. It is intent that gives moral value to an 
act; it is intent only that can make the act morally good 
or bad. Whatever is done with pure intent can not be 
a moral wrong; whatever is done with a wrong purpose 
can not be morally good, no matter what it may be. 
This fact is clearly stated in Rom. 14: 5, 6 — "One man 
esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth 
every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded 
in his own mind. He that regardeth the day, regardeth 
it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to 
the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth 
to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks ; and he that 
eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God 
thanks." Here we find people doing exactly opposite 
things, but in each case the intent is to please the Lord. 
One regards the day because he believes the Lord is 
pleased that he should do so; the other disregards it 
because he feels that God does not desire him to regard 
it. One "eateth to the Lord/' that is, he gives God 
thanks and receives with appreciative heart the meat 
as being from the Lord; the other "eateth not," since 
he feels that God desires him not to do so; he abstains 
with the purpose of pleasing God. Here is proof ab- 
solute that the quality of the act depends, not upon 
the nature of the act itself, but upon the intent back of it. 



Sin — Continued 151 

The man who looks to lust is as truly guilty as if the 
deed were done. The doing or not doing of the act 
does not change the moral value of the intent. If I pur- 
pose in my heart to do that which is wrong, I am guilty 
though the act is never committed. Circumstances may 
prevent my performing the act, but they can not render 
me innocent. If I plan to commit murder and then fail 
in some way or have no opportunity to carry out my evil 
designs, I am nevertheless a murderer. There is a dif- 
ference, however, between the sinful intent and the 
finished act: there is guilt in both cases, but the finished 
act involves others and affects them in a way that a 
mere intent can not. Therefore in this sense it is worse 
to do sin than it is merely to will to do it. He who 
plans murder but does not commit the deed does not 
have upon his conscience the blood of the victim, neither 
is the person deprived of his life, neither is the com- 
munity shocked by a terrible crime. Guilt there is, to 
be sure, and it differs not in quality but only in degree 
from that which comes from the completed act. 

Since, therefore, the New Testament judges the in- 
tent instead of the act, there can be no such thing as 
accidental sin. Sin is ever wilful; hence nothing can 
be sin except that which involves the will in a wrong 
way, but when the will becomes so involved, there is 
sin whether the purpose ever becomes translated into 
act or not. 

What Gives Quality to Intent 

The child desires to do things and does them and 
knows no reason why he should not do so. The en- 



152 Winning a Crown 

lightened person desires to do and does even though 
he knows a good reason why he should not so do. The 
one is innocent, the other guilty. Both transgress, 
but only one is imputed guilty. It is knowledge that 
gives quality to intent. The acts of a child can possess 
no moral quality, for there is no knowledge, which alone 
supplies the data for choice. His relation with God is 
passive and his acts, no matter what they are, do not 
affect it. The relation of the adult is active so far only 
as his knowledge goes, but thus far it is affected wholly 
by the acts or choices of his will, and every act into 
which choice enters affects that relation; but accident, 
things done in delirium or sleep, or through misappre- 
hension, can not affect him morally, since they do not 
involve the will or choice in a morally wrong way. 

These truths are clearly set forth in the New Testa- 
ment. Paul says, "By the law is the knowledge of sin" 
(Rom. 3:20). Again, he says, "I had not known sin, 
but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the 
law had said. Thou shalt not covet" (chap. 7:7). In 
verse 13 it is clearly shown that knowledge brings guilt. 
He says, "That sin by the commandment might become 
exceeding sinful." In chap. 4:15 he says, "Where no 
law is, there is no transgression," and in chap. 5: 13 he 
says, "But sin is not imputed when there is no law." 
In other words, a person can be responsible for his 
acts and become guilty thereby only as he has knowl- 
edge of the quality of those acts. It is knowledge of 
the righteous principles involved that brings him to 



sin — Continued 158 

the place where he can intelligently act as a moral be- 
ing, where he can choose between right and wrong in a 
manner to make him responsible for that choice. Paul 
says that "without the law sin was dead," that is, power- 
less. He continues, "For I was alive without the law 
once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, 
and I died" (Rom. 7:9). The coming of the com- 
mandment means the coming of it to his understanding. 
He became enlightened by the commandment, and that 
changed his relations entirely. Through the coming 
of the commandment, sin, which had been dead, or 
powerless, revived, and the "I," who had been "alive 
without the law," died because of the knowledge that the 
law brought him. He says elsewhere, "The strength 
of sin is the law" (1 Cor. 15:56). The law gave a 
knowledge of the moral quality of acts and of pur- 
poses; gave a standard of right and wrong. Respon- 
sibility to that standard became immediate. This re- 
sponsibility gave sin its opportunity. The child chooses 
to do many things in his unenlightened state that are in 
themselves violations of the moral law, but sin is not 
imputed to him, since he is not in a position to choose 
from moral considerations. He considers only his de- 
sires. He can consider nothing else, for he knows 
nothing else. Until he is enlightened, there can be no 
quality in choice; but as soon as he becomes enlightened, 
choice at once has quality, and his purposes then become 
either good or bad. 



154 Winning a Crown 

When Sin is Imputed 

Sin is imputed only when there is involved the active 
or passive consent of the will to do wrong. In the last 
analysis, sin is always rebellion against G'od. It is 
choosing and willing that which we believe to be wrong, 
to be contrary to God's will or law. Nothing else is 
sin or can be sin under the New Testament definition. 
Sin always involves intentionality. It is always a choice 
of that which is believed to be wrong, and always dis- 
closes a wrong attitude of heart toward the right. The 
choosing of the evil may be done without consideration, 
or it may be done after consideration, but in either case 
the act is the result of choosing evil. Sometimes we do 
things with a good intent, and they do not turn out as 
we expect them to do. Sometimes we feel bad over the 
outcome, but we should not condemn ourselves as having 
sinned. God does not look at the outcome; he looks 
at the purpose. It is only when choice rebels against 
what we believe to be the will of God that we become 
sinners. 

Sometimes there is a twofold intent in action — an 
immediate intent and one more remote. We may desire 
to see something accomplished that would be very good^ 
and we purpose to do that good thing, but in choosing 
means to the end, we may choose that which is evil. 
This involves two choices — the choice of the end (remote 
choice) and the choice of the means by which that end 
is to be attained (immediate choice). Sometimes it is 
held that the end justifies the use of wrong means, or 



Sin — Con tinued 155 

that it is lawful to .ittain the end by the use of any 
means. This is untrue. Both the immediate and the 
remote choice must be good, or sin is involved. Speaking 
on this point, Paul says, "For if the truth of God hath 
more abounded through my lie unto his glory, why yet 
am I also judged as a sinner, and not rather, (as we 
be slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we 
say,) Let us do evil that good may come?" (Rom. 3: 
7, 8). Here he plainly teaches that even though the 
object aimed at is good, if the means used are improper, 
a person is judged as a sinner. To do evil that good 
may come is evil in the sight of the Lord. All intent, 
therefore, that enters into action must be pure. 

Effects of Sin 

Sin affects moral relation and conscience, both or 
either. When moral relations are affected, these rela- 
tions must be restored; and when conscience is affected, 
it must be satisfied. Acts sometimes involve the con- 
science when they do not change the moral relation nor 
violate any principle of righteousness; that is, a person 
may do certain things in good faith, not questioning 
their moral quality, either before or at the time of act- 
ing, but supposing them to be right, and afterward may 
come to consider them wrong. In such a case God does 
not impute the acts as sin, though the person may some- 
times feel as though he had sinned. To restore the 
spiritual repose under such circumstances, it is neces- 
sary only to satisfy the conscience. When moral rela- 
tions are disturbed by transgressions, there must be 



15^ Winning a Crown 

such repentance and reconciliation as will fully restore 
these relations, at least so far as the transgressor and 
God are concerned. If fellow men are involved, they 
may refuse to be reconciled, but in such a case the 
sinner is clear when he has done his part to effect such 
reconciliation. 

Three Ways to Sin 

Under the New Testament there are three ways, and 
only three, to commit sin. These include everything 
that God counts sin. The first way is by the wilful 
transgression of a known divine law. John says, "Who- 
soever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for 
sin is the transgression of the law" (1 John 3:4). When 
we give the consent of our will to do that which we know 
to be wrong, we sin. As already pointed out, things done 
by accident, under compulsion, or in any way except 
• where the will is involved, where the will chooses to do 
that which it knows to be wrong, are not now imputed 
as sin. 

The second way to sin is thus expressed by James: 
"Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth 
it not, to him it is sin" (Jas. 4:17). This implies a 
refusal to do what we know we ought to do. Such re- 
fusal involves the will. Things left undone through lack 
of knowledge of duty are not sin; things omitted be- 
cause there is not power to do them is not sin. It is 
implied that we could do if we would, but that we refuse 
to do, that the not doing is because of choosing not to 
do, and not from any other cause. 



Sin- — Continued 157 

The third way of sinning is by violating the con- 
science or by doing that which we believe to be wrong, 
outside of the things commanded in the Bible. Paul 
lays down the principle covering this when he says, "I 
know, and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus, that there 
is nothing unclean of itself: but to him that esteemeth 
anything unclean, to him it is unclean" (Rom. 14: 14). 
Again, he says, "All things indeed are pure; but it is 
evilfor that man who eateth with offense" (verse 20). 
"Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing 
which he alloweth. And he that doubteth is damned 
[condemned] if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: 
for whatsoever is not of faith is sin" (verses 22, 23). 
According to the principle already laid down, an act is 
right or wrong according as the choice involved is right 
or wrong, and not according to the intrinsic value of the 
act itself. If we believe a thing to be wrong morally, 
no matter whether the Bible says anything about it or 
not, and we choose that thing, our choice is involved in 
a wrong way and becomes evil; and therefore the deed, 
since it gets its quality from choice, becomes evil. 

These are the only three ways in which a person can 
sin according to the New Testament. In every case 
where sin is imputed, the act must be wilful; that is, a 
wrong or supposed wrong must be deliberately chosen. 
Nothing else is sin or can be. All conduct must be 
judged by this rule; it is the only true standard. It 
is an accurate and true standard, and never varies in 
its application. 

The testimony of those who say that they are Chris- 



158 Winning a Crown 

tians, but that they sin more or less every day, implies 
one of tM^o things — either that they are willingly and 
wilfully disobedient, and could obey if they would but 
do not do so from choice, or that God demands of them 
what they are unable to do even with the grace that he 
gives. Either is a serious charge, reflecting severely on 
man or God. If man can do right and will not, he 
becomes exceedingly sinful. He is an outright rebel, 
setting up his will before the will of God. If he says 
that God demands too much of him and that try as he 
will, using all the grace that God gives, he is still 
unable to be obedient, then he charges God foolishly. 
He charges God with being unjust; for God would be 
highly unjust if he should require of us that which we 
could not do. The man who says that he is a Christian 
and then admits that he sins more or less every day, 
must take one or the other of the horns of this dilemma. 
Let him look this subject squarely in the face; let him 
consider it in all its bearings; and then let him look up 
into the face of God and say whether he can be a Chris- 
tian and sin in view of these facts, that is, whether he 
can continue sinning and at the same time continue to 
be a Christian. 

When Christians Sin 

The normal Christian life has already been illus- 
trated from the Scriptures. It is not needful to repeat 
that here. I will, however, call attention to the picture 
drawn by Paul in the sixth chapter of Romans: "Reckon 
ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive 



Sin — Continued 159 

unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin 
therefore reign in your mortal body^ that ye should 
obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your mem- 
bers as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but 
yield yourselves unto God, as those who are alive from 
the dead, and your members as instruments of right- 
eousness unto God. For sin shall not have dominion 
over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. 
Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants 
of righteousness. But now being made free from sin, 
and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto 
holiness, and the end everlasting life" (verses 11-14, 
18, 22). This is positive and explicit, and needs only 
to be read with care. 

It is true that in this world we are surrounded by 
temptations and may sin at any time; but if we do sin, 
we are at once brought under condemnation. There is 
but one way to be absolved, and that is by repentance 
and confession. If we sin, God will never forget it; the 
record will not fade out of his book of remembrance; 
time will neither condone it nor remove its guilt. God's 
"mercy endureth forever," but mercy ripens into for- 
giveness only when there is penitence and confession. 
Impenitence greatly aggravates sin. It causes the heart 
to be hardened and finally to be set in an attitude of 
stubbornness and rebellion. Many times people sin and 
think that they will repent in some revival meeting 
some time later, and be restored to God. This is utter 
folly. Repentance should be immediate. Neglect is 



160 Winning a Crown 

always a form of rebellion. When a Christian sins, the 
Spirit immediately tries to bring him to repentance. 
If he refuses or neglects to repent, he is holding him- 
self in a sinful attitude and may thus greatly increase 
his sin. God is kind and merciful. He desires a recon- 
ciliation as much and even more than is possible for us 
to desire it. When one has sinned, the thing to do is 
to come to God in open-hearted confession. Form a 
habit of being open-hearted with God, of being on fa- 
miliar terms with him. Treat him as you would your 
very dearest friend. He will always have mercy on our 
sins if we will be truly penitent and seek him with all 
our hearts. He has said, "If any man sin, we have an 
advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous: 
and he is the propitiation for our sins" (1 John 2: 1, 2). 



Principles of Divine Law 

Laws are of two kinds. First, there is arbitrary 
law, or law based on the will of the lawmaker, or upon 
his caprice or whim. Such laws are not based on con- 
siderations of right or justice; they are based on author- 
ity. They may be just or unjust, or partly just and 
partly unjust. Such laws as these have characterized 
tyrants in all ages of history. In making them men 
have consulted only their own wills or their own pleas- 
ure. There is another kind of law, that is, reasonable 
law, which is based upon the principles of reason and 
justice. Such laws embody the principles of right; they 
are based upon right, not upon authority. 

God being a God of justice, his laws embody the 
true principles of justice and righteousness. They are 
not arbitrary in their nature. God does not command 
things just because he has the authority; back of every 
requirement is a just and adequate reason. In speaking 
of God's law in the New Testament, Paul says, "For 
I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the 
power of God unto salvation . . . for therein is the 
righteousness of God revealed" (Rom. 1 : 16, 17). From 
this scripture we see that in giving his law (the gospel) 
God had no selfish purpose. He did not give it as the 
result of a mere whim or caprice. He has no desire to 
command things just to show his authority. His law 
reveals his righteousness. It can do so only if it is truly 
just and reasonable. Some people seem to think that 
God is a tyrant and that he requires of us some very 

161 



162 Winning a Crown 

unreasonable things, even impossible things. He does 
command things that are not acceptable to us in our 
sinful state, but when we are once saved, we can say 
with him of old, "O how love I thy law!" (Psa. 119: 
97). John said, "His commandments are not grievous" 
(1 John 5:3). This is the testimony of every one who 
is of a willing heart to serve him. Micah puts it in this 
way: "He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and 
what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and 
to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?" 
(Mic. 6:8). God's laws seem extreme and harsh and 
rigid only to those who have not the spirit of obedience 
in their hearts. 

God is a being of the greatest benevolence. God is 
love. His highest happiness, like ours, must come from 
unselfish purposes. There is a sort of selfish happiness, 
or a happiness that we may have and still be selfish or 
that may flow from selfish purposes, but that happiness 
is a very low form of happiness. The higher and truer 
form of happiness can come only through unselfishness; 
therefore it must come largely from the happiness of 
others. Our truest happiness comes from making others 
happy and having their happiness reflected in our own 
life. This is true of God as well as of man. He finds 
his happiness most truly in making others happy. Any 
laws, therefore, that he has given his creatures are for 
the purpose of making them happy. Every law that 
he has made for us is for our good and is necessary for 
our safety and wellbeing. 

His laws are not intended merely to restrict us nor 



Principles of Divine Lam 163 

to prevent in any measure our happiness. On the con- 
trary, all restrictions are wholly with a purpose to in- 
crease our happiness by preventing that which would be 
fatal to our highest happiness. He requires us to give 
up nothing but what is harmful to us. He never re- 
quires anything from arbitrary selfishness. He requires 
us to give up sin and the follies of this world because 
they work destruction to our own happiness, to the hap- 
piness and good of others, and to our eternal inter- 
ests. Selfish happiness is the lowest type of happiness; 
so he forbids it that we may be more happy. He does 
not place a single restriction upon us unless that restric- 
tion is necessary in its very nature. To secure felicity 
for us is the chief object and purpose of all his laws, 
and all his working for us, and all things that he re- 
quires of us. He knows that in order for us to be 
happy we must be holy; so he requires us to be holy 
and to give up all that would prevent our being so. 
True happiness can come only from correspondence with 
God, so he requires this of us. So long as our own 
happiness is the end in view in our lives, we can never 
be truly happy. If our own happiness is the thing we 
seek, our purpose is purely selfish and can never result 
in real happiness. God never seeks his own happiness 
as an end. He would be selfish if he did, and so could 
not be truly happy. True happiness always results from 
unselfish and pure purposes and acts. If we are right- 
eous for righteousness' sake, happiness is the result. 

The New Testament is not a book of rules, but a 
revelation of principles. God deals not with technical- 



1(54 ■ Winning a Crown 

ities, but with principles. In the Old Testament most 
of the laws were specific, as was necessary for that 
time, and revealed the principle only through some 
special application. In the New Testament the prin- 
ciple is usually revealed and the application of it to the 
details of life left to us. In every case we are to en- 
deavor to get a correct understanding of the principle 
involved. "The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life" 
(2 Cor. 3:6). As already stated, the New Testament 
is not a book of rules, though many persons have looked 
upon it as such. This has led to many and serious er- 
rors. This view is a prolific source of fanaticism and 
extremism. Every command of the New Testament is 
based on some broad principle of righteousness. We 
need to go back of the letter of the command; we need 
to get the principle. If we are technical in our inter- 
pretations, we shall almost invariably miss the prin- 
ciple involved, and when we miss the principle, we havfe 
only the empty shell without the kernel. There is a 
"why" back of every requirement, and until we learn 
what this is, our fulfilment of the requirement will be 
only a blind submission to authority. 

People often adhere very rigidly and literally to some 
precept or teaching while they freely violate the prin- 
ciple in other things. This is well illustrated in the case 
of certain monks in a monastery in Europe. They are 
said to have had a prolonged controversy among them- 
selves as to who could obey in the most Christian way 
Christ's command, "Whosoever shall smite thee on thy 
right cheek, turn to him the other also." So one would 



Principles of Divine Law 165 

smite another on the cheek, and the one smitten 
would bear it with all the equanimity possible. Then 
he in turn would smite the other upon the cheek with all 
his might, and that one would bear it as well as he was 
able. After such contests of stoicism they would fall to 
quarreling most violently as to which one had shown the 
most Christian spirit. While they were doing literally 
what Christ commanded, they were in reality violating 
its principle in the most open manner. How careful 
some people are to keep the Sabbath holy ( .'') who dur- 
ing the week can lie, steal, cheat, or do almost anything 
of the sort without troubling their conscience ! Only 
when we learn the principles involved and then apply 
them in all the activities of our lives are we truly Christ- 
like, truly obedient. 

To illustrate what I mean by the principle and the 
precept, or the difference between them, I call attention 
to Matt. 6:17, 18. In warning the disciples against 
the hypocrisy of the Pharisees in their fastings, Jesus 
gave directions how a person should fast. Here is the 
precept: "But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine 
head, and wash thy face." But here is the principle: 
"That thou appear not unto men to fast." Today, under 
changed conditions, we must either violate the precept or 
the principle. At that time and in that country it was 
common for people to anoint their heads every day; at 
this time and in this country there is no such custom. 
If, therefore, we should carry out the precept now, 
anointing our heads when we fasted, it would appear to 
all men that we were fasting; if we would not appear 



16C Winning a Crown 

unto men to fast, we must not anoint our heads on that 
special occasion. The principle is the thing of im- 
portance; and if we have learned that and ?^pply it in 
our lives, it will fit all occasions and all customs. If 
we cling to the letter of the law, we shall oftentimes find 
ourselves missing the real intent and purpose; we shall 
have the shadow without the substance, the letter with- 
out the spirit. 

God's laws are flexible in their nature, except where 
moral principles require rigidity. They are adapted by 
infinite wisdom to man's state and need in all ages, cli- 
mates, states of society, and stages of enlightenment. 
The sacred books of other religions are adapted only 
to the nations, the geographical location, and the state 
of society existing where they were given. The New 
Testament is different. It is a revelation of broad prin- 
ciples; therefore it is applicable to every time and in 
every place and to every condition. It says that we 
shall love one another, but it does not mention all the 
variety of ways in which that love will manifest itself. 
It does not enumerate all the things that love will lead 
us to do, nor describe all the feelings that love will cause 
us to have. It says, "Do good to all men," but it does 
not explain fully to us what this means; it leaves us to 
make the application ourselves when we once learn the 
principle. It teaches us that we should dress in modest 
apparel, but it does not tell us all about what modest 
apparel is. It does not give us a list of all the things 
that may we worn and say, "This is modest" and "This 
is immodest"; in fact, it has very little to say as to what 



Principles of Divine Law 167 

is and what is not modest. It leaves to each age and 
time and place the formation of a definition of modesty. 
The principle, however, applies in all ages and to all 
people, from the king upon his throne to the ordinary 
citizen and even down to the slave. It teaches us that 
we should not steal nor swear nor lie, but it leaves to 
us to formulate a definition of these things ; and if we 
are willing to regulate our lives according to his will, 
he will help us to find a definition that is satisfactory 
both to himself and to us. 

God's law is flexible. An absolutely rigid code would 
defeat its own end. If God had required men to measure 
up to an absolutely perfect moral standard, the result 
would have been that no one could have been saved. For 
that reason, his law must be flexible. It must fit all 
conditions, all times and views and circumstances. Under 
the Mosaic law God permitted divorce for many causes, 
even though it was contrary to the true principles of 
marriage. Under the New Testament he tolerated 
polygamy, also slavery and the moderate use of intox- 
icating liquors. These were evils that could not be 
extirpated immediately. The leaven of Christianity 
must work until the people were raised to a height of 
understanding where they could see the evil of these 
things and lay them aside. This flexibility of the law 
is shown in the case of Naaman. Though he promised 
to serve the true God only, he was permitted to return 
and go with his king to worship in the idol's house and 
even bow down with the king. He was required by his 



168 Winning a Crown 

position to do this, and the prophet did not ask him to 
surrender his position. See 2 Kings 5: 18, 19. 

As nations or individuals become more enlightened, 
they become able to apply the law in a more perfect 
way. Things are wrong to some that are not wrong to 
others, since some are more enlightened and can bet- 
ter apply the principles. We are never justified in 
doing a thing just because others have done it or are 
doing it. Each of us is required to live to his own 
highest standard. Slavery, once esteemed all right, is 
now considered a great evil. Society has come to see a 
higher standard of human rights. Science has taught 
us the evils of the use of alcohol and narcotics, and so 
a higher standard has come to prevail in regard to their 
use. God overlooked what he could not at the time pre- 
vent, and his law by its flexibility was adapted to the 
needs of the age. Its flexibility now makes provision 
for our failure to understand and apply it perfectly to 
our own lives, but that accommodativeness can never 
cover wilful disregard of duty. The Bible, not the 
fathers, is our standard. It may pass over our ignor- 
ance, but never over wilful wrong-doing. God is ever 
as lenient as he ought to be, but never more so. His law 
was made to be kept, not to be broken. 



How to Walk to Please God 

Sometimes people think that the Lord is a hard mas- 
ter. They are ready to say, like the servant, in the 
parable of the Pounds, "I feared thcc, because thou art 
an austere man" (Luke 19:21). The motive of the 
service of such persons is fear, not love. They serve 
God because they are afraid punishment will come upon 
them if they do not. They look at the results of not 
doing instead of looking at the results of doing. Their 
religion is a negative thing, and can have little of joy 
in it. Their service is a forced service, and not really 
and truly a willing service. If they do not serve God, 
hell will be their doom; therefore they try to do that 
which is right or which they esteem to be right. 

God is not a hard master. His requirements are all 
reasonable. Thus says Micah: "What doth the Lord 
require of thee, but to do justly and to love mercy, and 
to walk humbly with thy God?" (Mic. 6:8). Is there 
any hardship in that? anything that we can not gladly 
do ? No, God is not a hard master ; he is a God of 
loving-kindness and of tender mercy. Paul calls our 
service to him a "reasonable service." God is always 
just; he is always kind; he always makes all the allow- 
ance that he ought to make for us. If we are weak, he 
will strengthen us ; if we are ignorant, he will give us 
of his wisdom; if we grow faint, he will uphold us; if 
he is kind to the unthankful and the evil, how much 
more so will he be to those who love him and try ear- 
nestly to serve him. He is not hard to please, and if 

169 



170 Winning a Crown 

we really try to please him, we shall not only succeed, 
but have the testimony of his Spirit in our hearts that 
he is well pleased with us. 

He can be pleased only with that which is right. He 
hates iniquity; he hates every evil thing and can find 
no pleasure whatever in such. If, then, we would please 
him, we must depart from evil; must shut it out of 
our lives; must allow none of our conduct to be evil. 
God is pleased with that which is good and all that is 
good. In order to please him, therefore, we have only 
to do that which is good and right. Some people think 
that the Christian life is an unnatural and hard life; they 
seem to think that we must put ourselves in a sort of 
strait-jacket and live a life of bondage. They look at 
the negative aspect of the life and think that the life 
of the Christian consists in not doing and not being 
and not feeling and not thinking this, that, and the other. 
They feel that they must shut themselves off from that 
which they naturally desire. This is looking at things 
from the wrong angle. The Christian life is a positive 
life; it consists in doing and being. It is not an un- 
natural or forced life; it is not a strained life. It is not 
a life in which we have to repress all our normal de- 
sires; on the contrary, it is a life wherein our desires 
are brought into conformity to the will of God so that 
we can carry out these desires in a natural and normal 
and holy way, and find in carrying them out our truest 
pleasure and God's greatest glory. 

The Christian life is not a repression of desire. It 
is the revolution of desire, so that our desires become 



How to Walk to Please God 171 

holy desires and our purposes become holy purposes. 
If we try to live Christians without this revolution, we 
shall have a hard and irksome task. That is why so 
many professors say they have such a "hard row to 
hoe." The reason why they find little or no joy in 
Christian service is because their lives have not been 
transformed by the power of God. Their life is lived 
wholly in their own power. It is thus an unnatural and 
powerless life, one beset with many difficulties, and one 
which can not be a real Christian life, but at best can 
be only a cold formality. 

The Christian life is a life full of warmth and 
strength and beauty. The law of that life is love. We 
are to walk in love. To do this we must lay aside all 
selfish purposes. This is not hard if we really love. 
That is the question — Do we really love.^ Christ is our 
example in pleasing God. He said, "I do always those 
things that please him" (John 8:29). Why did he do 
this.'' and how was he able to do this.'' It was because 
he loved the Father with a pure and tender love; it 
was because he loved the things that the Father loved. 
The basis of all acceptable service is love. God could 
force us to serve him had he chosen that way, but that 
service would never have satisfied the heart of God or 
the heart of man. Love, not force, is God's method. 
He has not put us under compulsory law; he has left 
for us to choose whether we will serve him or not. There 
is no harshness in his rule. He will not compel us. 
Jesus thus stated the foundation of God's law: "He 
that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it 



172 Winning a Crown 

is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved 
of my Father^ and I will love hira, and will manifest 
myself to him. If a man love me, he will keep my 
words : and my Father will love him, and we will come 
unto him, and make our abode with him. He that 
loveth me not keepeth not my sayings" (John 14:21, 
23, 24). If we love, we will serve, not because we must, 
but because we love. The only compulsion is the com- 
pulsion of love, and that, after all, is the strongest of 
all compulsion. If we love God, we desire with all our 
hearts and with all our strength to please him. We 
shall seek throughout our lives to conform to his will 
in all the details and in all the aspects of our lives. It 
is not hard for love to serve ; in fact, love finds its great- 
est delight in service. It is true that there is self-denial 
in service, but to love, self-denial is not bitter, but sweet. 
How gladly we lay ourselves out for those whom we 
love ! and how sweet is the approval thus gained ! The 
early Christians "took joyfully the spoiling of their 
goods." They bore persecution of the bitterest kind 
and rejoiced. Why could they do this? Because they 
loved. 

The power of love is illustrated by the following in- 
cident: A minister who was ill was lying on a couch 
one day while his little girl played around the room in 
her childish way. Presently he said to her, "Daughter, 
will you bring Papa a drink.''" She went on with her 
playing as though she had not heard him. He repeated 
his request. She was all absorbed in her play, and 
said, "Oh, I don't want to." Her father said, "I 



Hifrv to Walk to Please God 17S 

thought joii loved Papa." Instantly she dropped her 
playthings, her face lighted up, and she started, say- 
ing, "Oh, yes. Papa, I'll go, I'll go"; and quickly she 
ran and brought the desired drink. When her love 
was appealed to, her response was immediate. So God 
appeals to our love, and if that love is genuine, our 
response to him will be ready. 

The contemplation of God's love and goodness is the 
Strongest possible incentive to live holy. We love him 
because he first loved us and gave himself for us. When 
we behold how good and how kind he has been through 
all our lives, how he has borne with our evil ways and 
not cut us off, how he still offered us mercy day after 
day until finally he won our love — when we view all this, 
how strongly we are impelled to serve him and how 
easy his service becomes ! We do not wish to wound 
those whom we truly love. 

We may find many things in the Christian life that 
are hard to do with our own strength, but we do not 
have to trust to our own strength alone. Paul, who had 
learned the secret of the Christian life, says, "Never- 
theless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me" (Gal. 
2:20). Ah, that is the great secret of the life! That 
is what makes it easy, that is what makes it joyful, 
that is what makes it glorious — Christ liveth in us. 
Again, it is said, "It is God which worketh in you" 
(Phil. 2:13). The secret of a victorious life is per- 
mitting him to work in us — submitting to him that his 
will may be wrought in us, and not only submitting, 
but throwing our will actively with his, causing his will 



174 Winning a Crown 

to be accomplished. Too many people try to live the 
Christian life without first becoming Christians. They 
take upon themselves a profession of religion, but they 
do not get Christ in their hearts. Their service is all a 
human service, and consequently it fails and comes 
short and is inadequate. Throw open your heart's 
door. Let Christ come in to reign. Let him be the 
power that worketh in you, and then you can live the 
kind of life that will please him. To try in your own 
strength is but to fail. To succeed you must needs have 
his power joined with your power. 

For a year and a half the writer tried to be a Chris- 
tian before he really became a Christian. It was his 
heart's true purpose to serve God and do right, but 
alas, how often he came short! alas, how often he was 
involved in sin ! Sometimes he felt that it was not 
worth trying any more, that only failure awaited him. 
At last he threw himself upon the mercy of God and 
received Jesus Christ into his life. What an unspeak- 
ably glorious change was wrought! He could now live 
— Christ could live in him; and for more than twenty- 
five years he has proved the Christian life to be an easy, 
a natural, and a happy life filled with the glory and 
grace of God. Christ broke the gravitation earthward 
and established a gravitation heavenward. From that 
time forward, service was delightful, and it has been his 
joy to follow Christ, and he knows what it is from per- 
sonal experience to have the testimony of the Spirit of 
God in his heart that God is well pleased with him. He 
is not an isolated example. There are tens of thousands 



Horn to Walk to Please God 175 

who know this in their own lives and hearts. They live 
this kind of life and have this kind of testimony. In 
fact, such is the outcome of a true Christian experience. 
If service is hard, it is from a lack of love. If service 
is imperfect, it is from a lack of love. Therefore let 
us love that we may serve, and serve because we love. 



Adorning the Doctrine 

In Tit. 2:10 we read, "That they may adorn the 
doctrine of God our Savior in all things." The doc- 
trine of God as revealed in the New Testament is a 
glorious system of truth. His law is a high and holy 
law, and one that excites our admiration. When it is 
preached, it draws men unto it and unto God. Even 
in the worst of men there is something that approves it. 
It is strikingly beautiful and high. It has a grandeur 
all its own. The problem of the Christian is to trans- 
late it from words into deeds and life and character. 
When this is done, the gospel is seen to be a practical 
reality, and not a lofty and impossible standard. 

Our lives are to adorn the gospel in all things. To 
adorn means to ornament, to beautify. Only that which 
is beautiful and attractive can adorn ; hence if we adorn 
the doctrine of Christ we must be attractive and beau- 
tiful in character and life. But can our lives and char- 
acters be such as to adorn the doctrine.^ God has prom- 
ised to "beautify the meek with salvation" (Psa. 149: 
4). In Psa. 29: 2 we are told to "worship the Lord in 
the beauty of holiness." In the sight of the Lord, there- 
fore, holiness is beautiful. It is also beautiful in the 
sight of men when they look at it with unprejudiced 
eyes. Sin, on the other hand, is unlovely and defiling 
in all its aspects. There is nothing in it to adorn the 
life or the character. It is ruinous. "Sin is a reproach 
to any people" (Prov. 14: 34). Only when we are made 
holy can we adorn the doctrine of Jesus Christ our 

176 



Adorning the Doctrine 177 

Savior. Only when we are made partakers of the dirine 
nature and have in us the beauty of the Son of God 
can we shine so as to adorn the doctrine as jewels. 
Speaking of his children, the Lord said, "And they 
shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when 
I make up my jewels" (Mai. S: 17). Speaking of hw 
people collectively as his bride, the Lord says, "And 
to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine 
linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the right- 
eousness of saints" (Rev. 19: 8). This shows a condi- 
tion in which his people must be in order to adorn his 
doctrine, and this is the condition to which he will bring 
us if we but give him the opportunity. Jesus said, "Let 
your light so shine before men, that they may see your 
good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven" 
(]\ratt. 5: 16). It is in this way that we adorn the doc- 
trine. The doctrine teaches such good works, and when 
those good works are seen in our lives, it reacts to the 
glory of the doctrine and to him who gave the doctrine. 
If we desired to adorn ourselves, we should not put 
on old rags, stick lumps of clay around over our cloth- 
ing, nor put on anything that was repellent. We know 
very well that such would attract no one. We would 
not smear our faces with soot or dirty grease to render 
ourselves attractive. How ashamed the housewife feels 
when visitors come and find her children with dirty 
hands and faces and clothes ragged and unclean ! As 
these things destroy attractiveness, so does ill conduct. 
One who professes to be a Christian and yet whose life 
and character are not Christ-like can not adorn the 



178 Winning a Crown 

doctrine. Unkindness in a person does not attract us to 
him nor to his religion. Untruthfulness or insincerity 
is not only a blot on his own character and life, but 
a blot on his religion if he professes to be a Christian. 
To be harsh or rude or unreasonable, to be selfish or 
self-willed, or to be proud, is to dishonor God instead 
of honoring him. 

Sometimes persons are hard to please. Do as you 
will, you can not satisfy them. They are always want- 
ing things some other way. These same persons are 
sometimes very well pleased with themselves, but no- 
body else can come up to their standard or do as they 
desire him to do. This is not a characteristic of holi- 
ness. This is not something that will honor God. In- 
stead of these things and other things like them being 
an advertisement of grace, they show the lack of it. 
What would such persons do if they were to go to 
heaven.'* The mere transference from earth to heaven 
will not change our moral state. If there is anything 
in us here that we should not like to have in us in eter- 
nity, here is the place to get the change made. Here is 
the place to have our lives made as we desire them to 
be in eternity. Here is the place for character-building. 
Here is the place to become Christ-like. Here is the 
place to adorn the doctrine, that men may see your good 
works. God has told us that nothing that defiles shall 
enter heaven. Only that which is beautiful and good 
will be there. 

Oh for more holy lives ! Oh for more consistency 
among those who profess to be Christ's! Oh for more 



Adorning the Doctrine 170 

of the glory of the Lord resting upon hearts and lives! 
Oh for more of the beauty of salvation, the ornament of 
a meek and quiet spirit! Many professors of religion 
adorn themselves outwardly with gold, pearls, and costly 
array, with feathers and flowers, and with many other 
things that they think adorn them; but oh for that inner 
adornment of heart that is precious in the sight of God 
and that lets the beauty of God's light shine out into 
the world ! How often outward adornment covers a 
heart filled with iniquity! How often such adornment 
is the outward show of that inward pride which God 
hates ! How often it reveals the corruption of the na- 
ture instead of its purity ! 

God wants our lives to be adorned with jewels, and 
the gold in which those jewels are to be set is purity. 
This is the background upon which all the jewels of 
character are to be displayed. It is the fundamental 
requirement in every life. If we are not pure, our lives 
will not be pure, and God will not be glorified. Im- 
purity in word or thought or desire can not long be 
hidden ; it will manifest itself, and always in a way 
to dishonor the individual and his God. The pure in 
heart and life always shine for God, and they always 
adorn his doctrine. God wants us to be true and faith- 
ful. He desired "truth in the inward parts" (Psa. ;>! : 6). 
He desires truth manifested in the life. He wants all 
our words to be true. He does not want us to speak 
evil of any man. He does not want us to speak that 
which dishonors him, or that which is evil in his sight. 
He wants us to be faithful, "showing all good fidelity," 



180 • Winning a Crown 

as he has said. Fidelity is one of the most glorious of 
Christian virtues. God wants us to he faithful to our 
word, faithful in our dealings, faithful in our public life 
and in our private life, and faithful in every way. In 
this way we can adorn the doctrine. If we are unfaith- 
ful, we dishonor him. He wants us to be earnest and 
sincere, to be gentle and meek, to have the law of kind- 
ness in our tongues. He wants us to be kind in our 
thoughts, in our actions, in our words. He would have 
the sound of his own kindness in our voices, the look 
of his own kindness in our eyes, and his own pity and 
tenderness in our feelings. He desires us to be tem- 
perate — temperate in our lives, our actions, our words, in 
every way. If we are to adorn the doctrine, we must 
avoid excesses and extremes. We must also be reason- 
able in the positions we take, in our actions, and in the 
things that we require of others. By this means peo- 
ple will see that we are Christ-like, and the doctrine 
will be glorified and adorned as no earthly jewels can 
adorn it. Men will listen to it and say that it is true, 
for that person lives just as the Book teaches. 



Fellowship with God 

Some people would have us believe that after God 
created the world he went off about his business else- 
where and now pays no attention whatever to man- 
kind nor to their interests. They think that whatever 
happens now is merely tlie result of the operation of 
natural forces. If they consider God to be anything 
more than force, they think him so far away as to be 
totally out of our reach. They scoff at prayer and of 
our speaking of having personal relations with God. 
Such teaching does not alarm the Christian, nor dis- 
turb him in any way. Its advocates might as well tell 
him that there is no sun shining in the heavens when he 
feels the glow of its warmth and sees everything around 
him lighted up with its beams. The Christian knows 
Grod. He is no more a stranger nor a foreigner, but he 
has been brought into personal and tender relations with 
God. John says, "That which we have seen and heard 
declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship 
with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father and 
with his Son Jesus Christ" (1 John 1:3). Fellowship 
does not imply cold and formal relation, or no relation 
at all. It implies that the relations are close and in- 
timate. John believed that there is something very prac- 
tical and very real about the relations that we are to 
sustain to God, and after telling us about this relation- 
ship, he said, "And these things write we unto you, 
that your joy may be full" (verse 4). There is some- 
thing in this fellowship that creates joy. Every true 

181 



182 Winning a Crown 

Christian knows that this is true. He knows it, not 
as a matter of theory, but as a matter of his own ex- 
perience. 

Fellowship implies a likeness of nature and of in- 
terests. There can be no fellowship unless there is a 
mutual correspondence. "For what fellowship hath 
righteousness with unrighteousness? and what commun- 
ion hath light with darkness.'* and what concord hath 
Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth 
with an infidel? and what agreement hath the temple 
of God with idols?" (2 Cor. 6: 14-16). Sinners can not 
have fellowship with God. They are utterly unlike 
him; they have no correspondence with him. There 
are tens of thousands of church-members who have 
never known from their own experience what fellow- 
ship with God means. They are still sinners and know 
that they are sinners; therefore they are shut off from 
fellowship with him. John says, "If we say that we 
have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, 
and do not the truth" (1 John 1:6). 

God makes the Christian like himself in nature and 
character, and therefore the Christian is in a position 
to have fellowship with him. Speaking of this, Paul says, 
"For we are made partakers of Christ" (Heb. 3:14). 
In Heb. 12:10 he says, "That we might be partakers 
of his holiness." Peter, speaking on this point, says, 
"Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious 
promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the 
divine nature" (2 Pet. 1:4). It is because God im- 
plants in us his very nature and likeness that we have 



Fellowship with God 183 

correspondence with him. When we have the same na- 
ture, it is natural that our interests should run in the 
same channel. 

Fellowship implies a partnership. "We are laborers 
together with God" (1 Cor. 3:9). We become, as it 
were, business partners with God. We are saved to 
serve, not saved for idleness. God has a great work 
to do in the world. For that work he wants many 
partners. He can fill many hands with activity. God's 
work is to save the world, and how glorious it is that 
we can have fellowship therein or have a part in this 
great work ! We are partners with God in the salva- 
tion of our own souls. True, we are to work out our 
salvation with fear and trembling, but, at the same 
time, it is God that worketh with us. Some seem to 
think that the burden and responsibility for saving their 
souls lies entirely upon their own shoulders ; others think 
that they can do nothing to bring about their own salva- 
tion, but that it is a matter wholly dependent upon God. 
Both these views are extreme. We have a part and God 
has a part. God is as much interested in our being saved 
as we can be interested; therefore he joins his forces 
with ours, and together we work out the glorious accom- 
plishment of his purpose. We have burdens to bear, 
but he is our helper. We have difficulties to meet, but 
he is our strength. What we can do, he expects us to 
do ; but what we can not do, he is ever ready to do. Dear 
soul, God wants your life to be a success here in this 
world, and he wants you to reach heaven safely in the 
end. He desires it so much that he has agreed to go 



184 Winning a Crown 

into partnership with you and to throw all his resources 
into the balance to enable you to accomplish his pur- 
pose. You do not have to fight your battles alone; you 
do not have to bear your burdens without help. Your 
strength is too small for this, but you have a glorious 
partner, one who will help you in every time of need; 
therefore look to him and lean upon him. Trust him, 
and you will make a success of it. You are sure to win 
if you trust your partner and do your part. 

We are partners in manifesting his grace to the 
world. He can not show his grace as he would like 
to except through humanity. He wants us to give our- 
selves to him and let him so manifest his grace in us 
that others may know how glorious it is. The world 
can know God most easily through his children, and so 
God gives to us the supply of his grace, not only so 
that we ourselves may be benefited, but so that the 
world may know the riches of his grace in us and, see- 
ing it in us, may be led to seek it directly from him. 

We are partners with God in saving others. God 
saves souls largely through the human instrumentality. 
Our part in this partnership is the giving of ourselves — 
our hands, our feet, our tongues, our ears, our minds, 
our hearts, our all, in fact — to be dedicated to this high 
and holy work. Let us not hold back ourselves from 
this fellowship. Let us join in it with all our ran- 
somed powers, that the world may be saved. 

Fellowship implies friendship. Jesus said, "Ye are 
my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. Hence- 
forth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth 



Fellowship with God 185 

not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends" 
(John 15: 11, 15). We were once enemies, but now 
being reconciled by his blood, we have become his friends. 
On that friendship he places one condition; that is, 
that we obey him in all that he tells us. In our part- 
nership with him, he must be the managing partner. 
His children are glad to have him be such. Abraham 
was called the friend of God. God does not want us 
to have merely a speaking acquaintance with him; he 
wants us to be on terms of close and intimate friendship. 
Human friendship means much to us. The man who 
realizes that he has no friends is lonely indeed. How 
little of good the world holds for him! How little his 
life seems to amount to ! How fortunate the one who 
has many friends ! How these ties enrich his life ! If 
human friendship means so much to us, how much more 
will the divine friendship, and how much more will our 
lives be enriched by it! What a wonderful privilege it 
is, then, to be the friend of God, to have him who is 
greatest of all for our friend ! But God is in heaven, 
and we are upon earth. Friendship is blessed even 
though we are far from our friends, far separated by 
space from their presence. How our memory loves to 
dwell upon them! How well we like to think of the 
associations of former days ! How we desire their pres- 
ence with us now! How we appreciate letters from 
them and news from them ! But it is when we meet 
them and see them and hear their voices that our joy 
is stirred. Will God be to us only as a far-away friend.^ 
Will he be only "our Father which art in heaven".'' Ah, 



186 Winning a Crown 

no! our fellowship with him will be something more 
than this. 

Fellowship means companionship. Fellowship with 
God means companionship with him. The angel said, 
"They shall call his name Emmanuel, which being in- 
terpreted is, Grod with us" (Matt. 1:23). Jesus said, 
"If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my 
Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and 
make our abode with him" (John 14:23). "He that 
loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love 
him, and will manifest myself unto him" (verse 21). 
What gracious promises these are! Again, he says, "I 
am with you alway, even unto the end of the world" 
(Matt. 28:20). "I will never leave thee, nor forsake 
thee" (Heb. 13:5). What can be dearer to us than 
being in the presence of those whom we love? These 
promises are not mere words; they are to be realized as 
facts of human experience. God is with us. He is not 
with us merely in the sense that he is everywhere, but 
in a special sense he comes to abide with us, to dwell in 
us, to sup with us, and to be our companion through 
life. Words can not express what the Spirit is to the 
Christian. Our eyes can not see the Holy Spirit, our 
ears can not hear him, our hands can not handle him, 
but nevertheless that divine presence is with us, and in 
our inmost heart we feel him and see him and hear him 
and know him. Nothing can be sweeter than the con- 
scious presence of God abiding with us. His presence 
is not secret. He is not present without our knowing 
it. Christ said, "I will manifest myself unto him." 



Fellowship with God 187 

Oh, how blessed this comipanionship ! How satisfy- 
ing to the inmost soul ! If the world could know it, 
how they would hasten to secure him to be their friend ! 
but alas ! they do not know it. It is a thing hidden from 
their eyes; it is a thing of which they can not truly 
conceive. Its sweetness, its depth, its glorious realities, 
are hidden from them. It is also hidden from many 
professors of religion. It has a strange sound to them 
when we speak of it. They do not understand what we 
mean. They look at us with uncomprehending eyes. 
They know nothing of the kind in their own experience. 
This is because their religion is a matter of externals, 
leaving the soul cold and empty. If they will but sur- 
render really to Christ and receive him into their hearts, 
they may know this blessed companionship. If they 
will forsake their sins and submit themselves to his 
will, he will gladly come unto them and let them taste 
of the sweetness of his love and the blessedness of his 
presence. 

Fellowship not only implies companionship, hut com>- 
munion. He is our Father, and we are permitted to 
have intimiate relations and privileges as sons. There 
is a sense of understanding between the soul and God. 
It knows God, and it knows that God knows it and 
understands it. How sweet is this sense of being un- 
derstood ! How blessed it is to go into the secret of 
his presence and lay before him all the troubles of our 
souls, to tell him our desires, our aspirations, our 
thoughts, our purposes, and to know that he under- 
stands them all and that he gives to us his sympathetic 



188 Winning a Crown 

affection! If others misunderstand us^ he will not. He 
knows and he cares. Even when words fail us, so that 
we can not tell him what we would^ we know that he 
can read the secrets of our hearts. He not only hears, 
but replies. He speaks to us in our inner consciousness 
in a way that the soul can understand, and when he 
speaks to us, how sweet the sound of his words and 
how our souls are stirred ! Like the disciples of old, 
we may say, "Did not our hearts burn within us while 
he talked with us by the way?" The sound of his voice 
causes our hearts to leap with joy and to burn within 
us. In vain do we try to describe this experience. 

Fellowship with God means a partaking with or 
sharing with him. This glorious privilege we are per- 
mitted to enjoy. Not only do we partake of the divine 
nature when we are saved from sin, but he opens the 
storehouse of his kingdom and gives to us of his treas- 
ures. He is not selfish with his pleasures. He wishes 
us to enjoy them/ with him. The Psalmist says: "How 
excellent is thy loving-kindness, O God! therefore the 
children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy 
wings. They shall be abundantly satisfied with the 
fatness of thy house; and thou shalt make them drink 
of the river of thy pleasures" (Psa. 36:7, 8). Jesus 
said, "These things have I spoken unto you that my 
joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be 
full" (John 15: 11). It is as though the heart of God 
overran with joy into our hearts. There is joy in heaven 
over one sinner that repents; there is joy in our hearts 
at the same time. How we rejoice to see the wanderer 



• Fellowship with God 189 

come home! Hbw we rejoice at the prosperity of Zion! 
How we rejoice in the rejoicing of God's children! 

We are made partakers of his peace. Jesus said, 
"Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you" 
(John 14:27). Again^ it is written, "Great peace have 
they which love thy law" (Psa. 119: 165). Paul says, 
"The peace of God, which passeth all understanding, 
shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus" 
(Phil. 4:7). How wonderful is the fellowship of God's 
peace ! It comes into our hearts dispelling all our fears, 
quieting all our troubles, and bringing a great calm, a 
joyful calm which brings our hearts and minds to sweet 
repose. The surface of our lives may be stirred by 
many a storm and the waves of trouble may beat upon 
us, but down underneath all the commotion there re- 
mains that settled calm — the peace of God. Sorrow 
may come and cause our tears to fall like rain; business 
disasters may rob us of our possessions ; but underneath 
all is the peace of God in the heart. Oh the peace of 
God ! How inexpressibly sweet it is to the human heart ! 
and how blessed to be allowed the privilege of the fel- 
lowship of his peace ! 

We partake of his grace also. Of the early church 
we read that "great grace was upon them all" (Acts 
4:, S3). We partake of his love. "The love of God is 
shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is 
given unto us" (Rom. 5:5). How rich the fruitage of 
this glorious union with God! It is hidden from the 
eyes of the world; how little they know of it! The 
Christian knows of it. He enjoys the realization of it 



190 Winning a Crown 

in his own heart. It is the very life and strength of his 
soul. But he can not tell it to one who does not know 
of it from personal experience, any more than he can 
tell the flavor of a fruit to one who has never tasted 
it. We must taste ourselves and see that the Lord is 
good; and this is the privilege that God freely gives 
to us if we will serve him. The way to partake of this 
fellowship is to draw nigh to God. The nearer we 
come to him, the more intimate relations are established 
between our souls and God, the more perfectly we par- 
take of this fellowship and the richer and sweeter it 
becomes to our souls. 

There is another phase of this fellowship quite dif- 
ferent from that of which I have been speaking. Paul 
says, "That I may know him, and the power of his 
resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings" (Phil. 
3:10). He explains this in Col. 1:24 — "Who now 
rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which 
is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh," In 
Phil. 1 : 29 he says, "For unto you it is given in the 
behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also 
to suffer for his sake." Suffering is a thing from which 
most people shrink. They marvel that; it should be a 
part of the Christian life, but it is a part, nevertheless. 
In speaking to Ananias of Paul, Christ said, "For I 
will show him how great things he must suffer for my 
name's sake" (Acts 0: 16). When we read his life, 
we find that it was a life of suffering. 

But why should the Christian have to suffer when he 
has turned away from his sins and is doing what he 



Fellowship with God 191 

knows to please God? Why should suffering be laid 
upon him? Is it not a burden that he should not be 
asked to bear ? Ah no, it is not such a burden ! It is 
one of God's blessings to us. It is God's most useful 
tool in forming Christian character. Only by pain can 
he make us into his image. 

Behold how our Master suffered for us. What ig- 
nominy, what shame, yea, what cruelty, came upon his 
devoted head ! He suffered for us that he might bring 
us to God; but after he had suffered the utmost that 
was in the power of his enemies to inflict upon him, he 
went back to heaven, and now they can not reach him. 
He is not here in fleshly form so that evil men may vent 
their wrath upon him now as in the days of his flesh. 
He still dwells here, but he dwells in the hearts of his 
people, and all the enmity and wicked rage and malice 
of sinners that would be directed toward him if he were 
here in person, is still directed toward him, but it is 
directed toward him in the hearts of his people. So 
Paul, looking at the matter thus, called his sufferings 
filling "up that which is behind of the afflictions of 
Christ" (Col. 1:24). Paul looked at his persecutions 
as being directed, not toward him, but toward the Christ 
in him. It was the Christ in him that suffered. It was 
the Christ in him that men hated ; therefore it was the 
Christ in him at which their evil words and actions were 
directed. And so, my brother, sister, the things that 
come upon you because you are Christ's come upon you, 
not because people hate you, but because they hate Christ 
in you. "If yc were of the world, the world would love 



192 Winning a Crown 

his own," Christ said, biit "ye are not of the world, . . . 
therefore the world hateth you" (John 15:19). We 
have only to grieve Christ out of our souls and to go 
back to the world again, to find that it will receive us 
and welcome us and love us, and that all our persecu- 
tions will be at an end. 

Since Christ has suffered for us, shall not we bear 
the little suffering that comes to us, without regret and 
without murmuring? Shall we not, as our ancient breth- 
ren, rejoice that we are counted worthy to suffer for his 
name? What a privilege to bear a part of that suf- 
fering which would have fallen upon the Lord had he 
remained in this world ! Shall we shrink from it ? Nay, 
but rather let us glory in it. When some Christians are 
tried and tempted and persecuted, they wonder why it 
is. It seems a very strange thing to them that it should 
be so. Sometimes they question themselves and think 
there must be something wrong with their lives or their 
hearts, or they would not have to endure these things. 
On the contrary, this is rather a proof that they are 
Christ's. Why should the world hate us? Why should 
Satan hate us if we do not belong to God? 

Peter explains the matter to us. He says: "Beloved, 
think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is 
to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto 
you: but rejoice, inasmuch as we are partakers of 
Christ's sufferings; that when his glory shall be re- 
vealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. If ye 
be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; 
for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on 



Fellotvship with God 193 

their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is 
glorified. But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or 
as a thief, or as an evil-doer, or as a busybody in other 
men's matters. Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, 
let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on 
this behalf. Wherefore let them that suffer according 
to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to 
him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator" (1 Pet. 
4: 12-16, 19). Reader, 3'^ou will do Avell to study these 
scriptures until you fully get their meaning, until you 
comprehend their depth. 

Paul says, "The sufferings of this present time are 
not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be 
revealed" (Rom, 8:18), Our trials and temptations 
and persecutions and all the things that we suffer be- 
cause we are Christians are only seeds which we are 
planting. From them we shall reap in the days to come 
a glorious harvest of joy. We may sow in tears, but we 
shall reap with rejoicing. As Peter says in the verses 
just quoted, "that when his glory shall be revealed, ye 
may be glad also with exceeding joy." 

Shall we, then, shrink from the fellowship of his 
sufferings.'' Shall we, then, shrink from that which 
may come upon us in this life ? Ah, no ! let us rather 
glory in it. Let it be our delight. Not that it is joyous 
in the present. It is oftentimes grievous to us and 
sometimes hard to bear. It requires courage and forti- 
tude, but did it not require the same thing for him to 
suffer.^ Remember the agony of Gethsemane. Remem- 
ber the heart-broken words on the cross. He still suf- 



194 Winning a Crown 

fers what his children suffer. God's great heart is too 
tender not to be touched with the feelings of our in- 
firmities. The stripes that are laid upon us smite him; 
the pains that we feel are felt in his great heart. Jesus 
endured for the joy that was set before him; so let 
us endure for that joy also, for we shall be partakers 
of that joy as we are partakers of his suffering. If we 
suffer, he knows just how to give to us the balm of con- 
solation. He knows just how to heal the wounded heart; 
he knows just how to help; he knows just how to 
strengthen. Let us, therefore, with joy fellowship his 
suffering and press on from day to day, counting it a 
glorious privilege. To view it thus will help to lighten 
our burdens, to sweeten our bitterness, and to give joy 
for our sorrow. It will make us strong to bear. It 
will give us courage to endure. It will help us to face 
the odds that are against us and in his name to over- 
come. Be strong, therefore, and endure. Bear the lit- 
tle portion of his suffering that falls to you; then in 
the day of crowning, you will have rejoicing, and he 
will treasure you throughout eternity as one of his 
precious jewels. 



Human Fellowship 

"If we walk in the light, as he is in the Hght, we 
have fellowship one with another" (1 John 1:7). Fel- 
lowship does not mean the acknowledgment of others 
as being Christians or the approving of their conduct. 
Sometimes we hear it said_, "I just can not fellowship 
that person." By this the speaker means that he can 
not approve the person's conduct or feel that he is a true 
Christian. This is not, however, the true meaning of 
the word "fellowship." Acknowledgment or approval 
is not fellowship at all. Fellowship is an internal, not 
an external, thing. It is the harmonious blending of 
kindred spirits. Fellowship can exist only among those 
who stand upon common ground, or those who are of 
a similar spirit. Fellowship can exist only where there 
is a likeness, a similarity, where the same elements exist 
in the different persons. 

We can have fellowship with people in anything where 
there is a common tie or common interest; for example, 
those engaged in the same work, members of the same 
organization, or persons interested in the same cause, 
etc. Wherever these common interests exist, people 
will be drawn together and will have a fellow-feeling 
for each other. Good people find each other and seek 
each other's society. Evil men do the same. One 
sportsman is attracted toward another; one business 
man, to another man engaged in the same business. A 
member of an organization is drawn to other members 
of it whether it be a political, religious, business, social, 

195 



196 Winning a Crown 

or other form of organization. All this is fellowship. 

There are many kinds of fellowship, but we are inter- 
ested here only in spiritual fellowship, or fellowship in 
the spiritual life. When Christians are associated in a 
church, they have two kinds of fellowship. There is, 
first, associational fellowship, or the fellowship that 
comes from being associated in the same organization. 
This tie of association that binds them together is often 
mistaken for the fellowship of the Spirit. It is not, 
however, this fellowship, but something quite distinct 
from it. Spiritual fellowship is the blending of kindred 
spirits, whether these be good or bad. Christian fel- 
lowship is the blending of the Spirit of God in the 
hearts of God's people. It is the heart-tie that unites 
them one to another. It has its origin in God. It can 
not be made; it can not be forced. It is spontaneous. 
It is the affinity of like elements. We can not make our- 
selves have fellowship with some one. If it exists at 
all, it exists naturally, simply because both parties 
are possessed of the same spirit. 

Sometimes a congregation will seem to be in fellow- 
ship with one another, and each will have confidence 
in all the others. A stranger may come in and may 
discern at once that some of those in the congregation 
do not really possess the Spirit of Christ; in fact, they 
may possess quite a different spirit. The congregation 
has fellowship with them, but it is associational fellow- 
ship, not fellowship of the Spirit. The one coming 
in from the outside does not have this associational fel- 
lowship, and so he can readily recognize that no spiri- 



Human Fellorvship 197 

tual fellowship exists. Sometimes the mistaking of this 
associational fellowship for spiritual fellowship allows 
things in a congregation to come to a bad state before 
the members are aware. A pastor will often detect in 
certain members of his congregation things that the 
body of the congregation can not discern. Such cases 
are very hard to deal with, because the congregation or 
& part of it are liable to mistake the associational fel- 
lowship they have with those members for real spiritual 
fellowship, and to think that such persons are all right 
and that the pastor is wrong in his judgment. They are 
likely, therefore, to take a stand against the pastor 
and for the individuals with whom he would deal, for 
whose souls he labors. 

Fellowship is not always a safe tept of the spiritual 
condition of others. They may be all right, and they 
may not be all right. If we are right and have spiritual 
fellowship with them, then, of course, they have the 
Spirit of God; but we may have associational fellow- 
ship with them, and yet they may not possess the Spirit 
at all. Let us, therefore, make our judgments care- 
fully. Let us not render our decision in haste. Let 
us prove all things. 

Again, there may come among us persons who are 
real Christians and with whom we would have fellow- 
ship in the Spirit were it not that we realize that we 
have not this associational fellowship; but, realizing 
that we have not such fellowship, we are apt entirely 
to overlook the spiritual phase. This may prevent 
us from giving acknowledgment to some of those who 



198 Winning a Crown 

are really God's people. We ought, therefore, to be 
careful to distinguish between these two different kinds 
of fellowship. 

Fellowship is something that is very sensitive and 
easily influenced by circumstances. A number of dif- 
ferent things will prevent us from having fellowship 
with people, even if both we and they have the Spirit 
of Christ. Fellowship can not exist where there is a 
lack of confidence. No matter what the cause of that 
lack of confidence, it will prevent the operation of fel- 
lowship. Whatever destroys our confidence in people 
destroys our fellowship with them. If our confidence is 
based upon fellowship and anything happens to hinder 
that fellowship, then our confidence in the person is 
immediately weakened; after confidence is weakened, 
fellowship is still more decreased; and as fellowship 
is decreased, it still further weakens confidence. Thus, 
the two things react upon one another to the destruction 
of both. 

Suspicion will destroy fellowship. As soon as we 
begin to question a person, at once fellowship begins 
to decline. Any wrong attitude that we may hold to- 
ward a fellow Christian will hinder fellowship with 
him, no matter what that attitude may involve. If we 
find fault with and criticize others, it will break our 
fellowship with them. If we in any way do them a 
wrong, the fellowship is broken. Let us beware, there- 
fore, how we judge people from the standpoint of fellow- 
ship alone. 

Fellowship is a tender plant. It will grow nowhere 



Human Fellowship 199 

but in the sunshine; therefore anything that casts a 
shade will destroy it. The thing that causes the shadow 
may be a real thing, or it may be only a thing of the 
imagination or supposition, but the result is the same 
in both cases. 

How sweet is true Christian fellowship ! How glo- 
rious to have our hearts bound together by its ties ! How 
we should cherish and nourish it! With what care we 
should protect it from harm ! We can have this fellow- 
ship with people that we have never seen, yes, even with 
those in the remotest part of the globe. Our love goes 
out to our brethren and sisters in the heathen lands. 
Those of another race and another color and another 
language than ours become very dear to our hearts. The 
Christian ties become stronger than the ties of relation- 
ship. Our brethren in the Lord become dearer to us 
than our flesh and blood kin. The ties that bind us are 
sweeter and stronger. How precious is the communion 
of saints when we all drink in of one Spirit, when fel- 
lowship flows from heart to heart and God is in all 
and through all ! Let us treasure it, therefore, and watch 
it carefully lest harm come to this tender plant. 



The Transformation of Divine Energy 

Christ told his disciples to tarry in Jerusalem until 
they should be endued with power from on high. Paul 
speaks of the power of Christ resting upon him. It is 
God's will that all his people be endued with this heav- 
enly power. God's power never works in the soul of 
man independently of the presence of the Holy Spirit. 
Whatever power people possess that does not come 
through the Holy Spirit is not the power of God; but 
when God is present with us, his power is always pres- 
ent, and this power will manifest itself. This power 
does not work according to the human will, but works 
according to the will of God; therefore we must be 
submitted to his will in order for it to work through 
us. God will never take orders from us. If we at- 
tempt to use his power for a wrong or selfish purpose, 
it will react to our own hurt. 

Sometimes people mistake for manifestations of the 
power of God things which are not such at all. Some 
think that noise and demonstration are the result of 
power, or indicate the presence of power; and the more 
noisy and demonstrative a person is, the more power he 
is thought to possess. Noise is not power nor an indica- 
tion of power. It often indicates only human enthusi- 
asm or hysteria. Some bodies of religionists are very 
noisy, and yet they have very little of the power of God 
in their lives. As a rule, those who make the most noise 
accomplish the least for God. It is generally a mark of 
superficiality, especially where there is a disposition to 

200 



The Transformation of Divine Energy 201 

carry it to the extreme. Some modern religious move- 
ments are noted for the demonstrations of their ad- 
herents. They leap and shout and "fall under the 
power" and do many unseemly things. They do many 
things that make the people ashamed who look upon 
them. Sometimes they "carry on" until they are utterly 
exhausted. Sometimes they go through strange con- 
tortions and jerkings, and sometimes froth at the mouth. 
They think all this to be the manifestation of the 
power of God. One thing I have noticed about these 
people who go to such extremes is that very often those 
who are the most demonstrative are living lives which 
are anything but commendable and in some cases even 
immoral. There is a power in such people, but it is 
not the power of God; for the power of God does not 
manifest itself in an unseemly manner. There is some- 
thing beautiful and attractive about his power, some- 
thing that draws the soul, something that melts it and 
inspires it and awes it as if in the presence of the 
Almighty. 

Noise is not power. One day I walked with a friend 
down a street in a large city. A motorcycle passed us, 
making a great racket. There was much noise, but little 
power. We walked on a little farther and went into 
the engine-house of a great factory. I stood beside the 
great Corliss engine there and watched it running so 
smoothly that there was hardly a sound. I could not 
realize what power was there. It seemed as though I 
could put out my hand and stop it. But there was 
power there, great power. It turned the wheels through- 



202 Winning a Crown 

out that large factory and kept the machinery busily 
running. Likewise^ those who are most powerful for 
God are often persons who are quiet and attract little 
notice. The power in them works softly and silently, 
but mightily. It accomplishes God's purposes. 

It is true that persons of some temperaments do some- 
times make considerable noise when they are full of 
the power of God^ but this is the result of tempera- 
ment, not the result of the power, for the same amount 
of power in another may work quietly and silently, 
though none the less effectually. I do not object to 
»ome noise in religion if there is divine power back of 
that noise, the power to be what a Christian should be, 
the power to live as a Christian should live, the power 
to glorify God, but the noise without the real power for 
accomplishment is a vain thing. God does not judge 
people by the amount of noise they make; he does not 
value them for their noise, but for the power that they 
possess. There are some who once were powers in the 
hands of God, but who now are like shorn Samson. The 
power is gone. They have the form, but they lack the 
power. Some sing, "There is power, power, wonder- 
working power"; but when you look for it in their lives, 
you do not find it. Power is the thing that counts, and 
God wants us to be filled with it. Natural ability counts 
for something, but no matter how great our natural ca- 
pacity, if the power is lacking the capacity counts for 
nothing. We are like empty vessels. God has plenty 
of power, and he will give us power if we will tarry be- 
fore him. Power is something that comes down, not 



The Transformation of Divine Energy 203 

something that is worked up. The "howling dervishes" 
work themselves up into wild hysteria and fall in fits 
and have all sorts of manifestations, but there is no 
fM5wer of God in it. So we may do. I repeat, en- 
thusiasm is not power, hysteria is not power. Only the 
presence of God can give us power. 

Power Transformed 

Electric power passes silently through the wires; but 
as it passes through the incandescent bulb, it is turned 
into bright light; as it passes through the resistance-coil, 
it is transformed into heat; as it passes through the 
motor, it is transformed into activity; and as it passes 
through the magnet, it is turned into magnetism. So 
God would have his power transformed in us, and so it 
will be transformed if we give him his way. It will 
be transformed into light so that we may shine for God 
and so that those around us may behold his beauty in 
us. God would have us be lights to the world, and so 
he lets his power rest upon us that it may be transformed 
into light and shine out into this dark world. He wants 
men to see our light and thereby know his power to save 
and to keep. 

He wants his power turned into heat so that our 
lives are no more cold and barren, but our affections and 
emotions are warmed and enriched and bring forth fruit 
unto his glory. He wants all our faculties and powers 
to be filled with fervency, all our lives warm and radiant 
with his glory. He wants his power transformed into 
activity so that we may work righteousness, that 'men 



204 Winning a Crown 

may see our good works and glorify our Father which 
is in heaven.' People who are full of the power of 
God are not content in idleness. They feel that they 
must work the work of God while it is yet day. Yoti 
do not have to coax such people to work. They are 
ready for a job any time. The power of God will man- 
ifest itself in zeal. Where zeal is absent, power is 
absent. Power is always seeking an outlet. If the 
power of God is resting upon us, we can not be easy 
while multitudes around us are going to destruction. 
There is much Christian activity that comes to naught 
because there is no power in it or too little power in it. 
There may be zeal without power, but zeal will be inef- 
fectual without power. The power of God does not need 
elaborate ecclesiastical machinery in order to work. It 
will work in the heart; it will work out in the life. All 
that Giod asks is that the heart be submitted to his will 
and all the powers of life dedicated to his service; then 
he will fill us with power and work through us the 
accomplishment of his purpose. Our lives then will be 
finiitful to glorify his name. 

God wants his power in us turned into magnetism, 
that we may draw men to ourselves and through our- 
selves to Christ. If our lives are unlovely and un- 
attractive, God can not draw men through us. It mat- 
ters not what may be our situation in life nor how few 
may be our natural talents. Our lives may be hampered 
and our development may be hindered, but if the power 
of God rests upon us, we shall attract men to Christ. 
The humblest life may be glorified and made attractive 



The Trarut formation of Divine Energy 205 

by the presence and power of God. But magnetism not 
only attracts; it also repels. So we, if we are full of 
this divine magnetism, shall repel all that is evil. 
Our very presence, even though a word is not spoken, 
will be a reproof to evil. Our looks will be louder than 
the words of those who are without the power of God. 
Those who are wicked and corrupt will feel ashamed and 
reproved in our presence. They will try to hide their 
wickedness. They will be careful of their language. 
They will find no pleasure in their wickedness in our 
presence. 

Oh ! let us be filled with the power of God and let 
us manifest it in our lives, so that the world may be- 
lieve. Let us submit ourselves to the divine will. Let 
us seek daily a real enduement from on high, and then 
when it comes let us realize that the excellency of the 
power is of God and not of us, and let us give to him 
the glory. Let us manifest to our fellow men this power, 
not to show that we have the power, but that we may 
win them to Christ — that we may make them to know 
the riches of his love, the power of his grace, and the 
wonders of his holiness. "Ye shall receive power after 
that the Holy Ghost is come upon you." 



Our Natural Propensities 

We are twofold beings. The real man, the man who 
will live forever, the man who is made in the image of 
God, is not the man that our eyes gaze upon. For a 
little while we are dwellers in a body of clay. In re- 
gard to our physical body we have no preeminence over 
the beasts: it is made of clay, and it will return to the 
dust from which it came. Our bodies correspond very 
closely to those of the animal creation: theirs and ours 
have practically the same functions; they are subject 
to the same physical laws. So far as his physical being 
is concerned, man differs from the animal only in being 
more highly organized. 

We must not suppose, however, that because we have 
an animal body the body is necessarily impure. Such 
is not the case. Nothing of God's creation is impure. 
The body becomes impure only when it becomes defiled 
in some way through the sin of the soul, but the body 
considered by itself is pure, perfectly pure from a moral 
standpoint. Every part and every organ of the body 
was created for a pure and holy purpose. They all 
fulfil G^d's purpose. They are, therefore, as pure as 
God. 

All the natural functions of our bodies are good. We 
ought to distinguish carefully between privacy and im- 
purity. Some functions of the body, we naturally feel, 
belong to us alone; others include also those nearest us; 
and still others are public in their nature and have to 
do with our fellow men in general ; but all these functions 

206 



Our Natural Propensities 207 

are God-created and pure. Do not allow yourself to 
believe that they are otherwise. It is proper and neces- 
sary that there should be a standard of modesty relat- 
ing to these functions. It is proper that we should re- 
gard the standard of modesty and not deviate from it, 
but we wrong ourselves whenever we attach to any of 
these functions the idea of impurity. Our bodies are 
pure. Let us use them as such and keep them as such. 

The desires that naturally arise from these functions 
are all pure. Get this thought firmly fixed in your mind: 
it may sometime save you serious trouble. When I was 
first saved, I did not understand myself, and I sup- 
posed that certain of these functional desires would 
cease when I was converted. As they did not, I became 
troubled and thought I was not right. I supposed that 
if I were really right in the sight of God, those func- 
tional desires would have ceased, and the fact that they 
had not ceased was evidence to me that I was not right 
with God. This misapprehension caused me great dis- 
tress of mind and doubts and fears and perplexities. 
I prayed much, but found no way out of my difficulty. 
It was not until I learned that salvation does not de- 
stroy the natural functions of our bodies that I arrived 
at a point where I could have a settled experience. 

Such desires have no spiritual significance. They are 
neither moral nor immoral; they are unmoral. To be 
thirsty is not to be sinful. This is only nature's way 
of calling for what she needs. It is only her way of 
making known the things that are needed for the proper 
functioning of the body. So all other natural desires 



208 Winning a Crown 

and appetites arising from the body have to do only 
with its proper functioning and are pure and holy. Do 
not allow yourself to think that they are not. You will 
do yourself an injustice if you do and make for your- 
self much trouble. These desires are every one neces- 
sary. You could not spare a single one of them and be 
normal. 

The gratification of these functional desires in a law- 
ful way is pure and beneficial. These functions and the 
desires arising from them were made for man and per- 
tain only to man. They have no spiritual significance 
whatever. They have no more relation to God than 
have such desires in an animal. Spiritually we are none 
the worse if we have them, and none the better if we 
do not have them. 

But God has seen that it was fitting and wise to 
impose upon us certain restrictions in the gratification of 
natural desires. These restrictions are for man's good. 
The restriction is upon willing and choosing, and not 
upon desire. We have no choice as to whether we shall 
have these desires or not, but we do have a choice as to 
how they shall be permitted to manifest themselves. 
The will regulates their gratification, and if they are 
given improper gratification, it is the will that becomes 
responsible, and it is the will that is defiled. The im- 
proper use of our physical functions, improper gratifica- 
tion of desires, may make those functions and desires 
abnormal. It may require the exercise of considerable 
will-power to restrain them within proper bounds, but 
even in such a case the desire itself is not evil. It is 



Our Natural Propensities 209 

only unlawful gratification that is evil. Sometimes we 
have desires that we wish we did not have. Sometimes 
desire is hard to control. It asserts itself with force 
and clamors for gratification. We may wish that it 
did not do this, but, as already stated, such desire is 
not impure. It only requires that we keep it within the 
bounds that God has set for its gratification. Sometimes 
•desire becomes abnormal, as desire for liquor or tobacco 
or narcotics. Such desires can not be defiling so long 
as the will says no to them. Sometimes the procreative 
function originates strong desire. This is sometimes 
especially true where the body is in an abnormal condi- 
tion. The principles already stated apply in such a 
condition also. There is no impurity unless the will 
fails to properly control desire when it might and should 
control it. 

Do not lose sight of the fact that God created all 
the functions of your body and that you may gratify all 
these functions in a lawful and pure way with his ap- 
proval upon you. To associate the idea of impurity 
with these functions or the desires arising from them or 
the lawful gratification of these desires is to charge 
God with being the author of impurity. 

All these physical desires will persist so long as our 
bodies function properly. I have known men to teach 
publicly that after we are sanctified certain of these de- 
sires never manifest themselves again. There is no 
warrant for such teaching. It implies that such desires 
are impure. God will never take out of us anything 
that he put in us. He will never condemn us for doing 



210 Winning a Crown 

that which he sees necessary for our well-being. Sanc- 
tification purifies us and renders us holy in body and 
spirit^ but it does not make us anything but mien. It 
does not make of us something different from what God 
intended us to be, and in the beginning he made us 
what he intended us to be. 

All these functional desires must be guided by intel- 
ligence and restrained by the mill. God has given us 
judgment, and he expects us to use it in the right way. 
He expects us to keep under our bodies and bring them 
into subjection so that we may be holy and without 
blame before him in love. He has given us the power 
to judge and discriminate between the right use of and 
the abuse of all our faculties and proclivities. We should 
use this intelligence. We do not need superhuman in- 
telligence for this; we need only common sense. If we 
go to extremes in any way, nature will exact the penalty. 
The presence of the Spirit of God in our hearts will 
oftentimes have a modifying effect upon our physical 
desires; especially is this true where these have be- 
come abnormal. 

During life there is a constant warfare between the 
flesh and the spirit. The man who is ruled by the flesh 
and has desire for his master, works that which is evil in 
the sight of the Lord, but the man who has "power over 
his own will" (that is, the will to use his power of self- 
control) and brings himself into subjection to the Spirit 
of God, will live righteously and godly in Christ Jesus. 
Appetite knows nothing of property rights nor of the 
laws of God or man. It knows no distinction of right 



Our Natural Propensities "211 

and wrong, of purity and impurity. If I am hungry, any 
appetizing food will attract me, and desire will reach 
out after it. MTio owns that food does not matter ; desire 
wants it. Desire knows nothing of ownership nor does it 
care about the owner. Intelligence knows and recognizes 
property rights ; therefore intelligence and will must con- 
trol appetite. If they do not and appetite gains the 
mastery, then the man becomes a sinner. As long as the 
spiritual man is in the ascendency, as long as he rules, 
he keeps under the physical ; but when the physical gains 
the ascendency, the spiritual man ceases to be innocent 
and pure, and becomes sensual. That is, either the spirit 
must give up its way or the flesh must surrender to the 
spirit where their desires are contrary. This warfare is 
not a warfare of sin against righteousness ; it is a war- 
fare of the spirit against the flesh, of the spiritual against 
the natural. This warfare is not a thing of a day nor a 
month, but it is a thing of a lifetime. Natural desire 
runs out to any object that can gratify it. The spirit's 
task is to limit it, and gratify it only in a right manner. 
^^Tien this is done, purity is maintained. If we fail to do 
this, we become defiled and sinful. 

The Mental Constitution 

Mentally man is a trinity, composed of reason, will, 
and the sensibilities. We might compare him to a 
steamship. His body is the hull and the power-plant. 
Reason or intellect is, or should be, the navigator. The 
will is the engineer and pilot. The sensibilities are 
the heating and refrigerating plants. It is in reason 



212 Winning a Crown 

and will that man rises farthest Godward. These are 
the really important things in his constitution; every- 
thing else is secondary. It is through these that he 
knows God and obeys him. It is through these that 
we are made moral creatures and are subject to moral 
law and can know and understand moral problems and 
principles. It is through these that we draw nigh to 
God. We do not have to depend upon instinct as do 
the animals. When God illuminates the intellect and 
controls the will, he has a man for his service. These 
are the citadels of man's soul, and it is to them that 
God's appeal is made and through them that man be- 
comes godlike. 

The place of reason is in the chart-house of our 
vessel. God has given us a chart — his precious Word. 
Reason must study this chart and from it lay life's 
course. It must choose the port to which we shall sail 
and the course over which we shall sail. It must watch 
for the dangers that lie in the way. It must know 
the hidden rocks ; it must know the shoals, the cur- 
rents, and the various other dangers of navigation. It 
must read the weather-signs, so that we may know when 
the storms are coming and how to prepare for them 
and how best to weather them when they come. It 
must take the observations and locate our position on the 
voyage of life. It must decide all the problems of navi- 
gation. It must find the way out of all difficulties and 
dangers. Reason, illuminated by the Holy Spirit, is 
our only safe navigator. If we trust to anything else, 
we shall run upon the rocks and be lost. 



Our Natural Propensities 213 

The will must steer our vessel upon its course. Our 
lives must not be left to chance, but must be guided by 
a steady hand. Many dangerous rocks lie hidden in the 
sea of life. Unless a strong hand holds the wheel and 
obeys the voice of the navigator, we may make ship- 
wreck. We dare not let every current carry us whither 
it will. We dare not let ourselves drift wherever the 
wind would blow us. We must keep straight upon our 
course. Knowing this, God has given us our wills to 
be the helmsmen of our vessels and to steer them in the 
straight and safe course that leads to the port of ever- 
lasting glory. The will must have the directing control 
of all the energies of our vessel. It must keep its hand 
upon the throttle of our lives. It must direct all our 
energies in the proper way. If any of our energies are 
not subject to our will, there is certain to be disorder 
in our lives. The will must be absolute master of our 
powers. 

We need never expect to come to the place where our 
powers will always work good automatically. There 
is no such thing as an automatic Christian. Doing right 
is a matter of willing to do right and bringing the 
forces of our being into subjection to our will so that 
they work what the will has decreed that they shall work. 
We must often use our wills to compel ourselves to do 
that which is right, against our natural inclination. The 
Bible takes no account of our feelings. It points out 
duty. It says, "Do this" or "Do not do this." It says, 
"Be this" and "Do not be that." It does not say, "Feel 
patient"; it says, "Be patient." It does not say that 



214 Winning a Crown 

we shall not feel tempted; it says that we shall not 
yield to temptation. When it points out any duty, it 
does not say, "Feel inclined to do this duty"; it says, 
."Do this." It lays upon the will the whole responsibility 
for the conduct. We are never judged by our feelings, 
but are judged by our wills. If reason and will are on 
the side of right, then the individual is judged as being 
right, and his conduct is approved. 

The will must be subject to the orders of reason 
and resolutely carry them out. The reason that so many 
people are evil-doers is not because they have not enough 
intelligence to know the right, but because their wills 
do not act in harmony with their intelligence. They 
know what is right, but they do not will to act according 
to their knowledge. In many things they go contrary 
to their judgment; they do things that they know are 
unwise. They deliberately set aside their reason and 
do that which they know will bring the condemnation 
of God upon them and will be ruinous to their lives here 
and hereafter. When the will chooses its own course 
regardless of the reason, it always makes shipwreck of 
the life. It is imperative, therefore, that you make your 
will subject to the dictates of your reason. If you do 
not, only disaster awaits you. 



Our Natural Propensities — Continued 

Our Sensibilities and Emotions 

I have likened our sensibilities and emotions to the 
heating and refrigerating plants of a steamer. All the 
warmth in life comes through our feelings; all the joy, 
peace, gladness, mirth^ contentment, brightness, happi- 
ness, and other similar things come to us through our 
feelings. Without emotions life would be a cold, bleak 
waste. They are the things that make life worth while. 
They are as needful in their sphere as reason and will 
in their spheres. Not only does the warmth and charm 
of life come through our sensibilities, but also all that 
chills in life. Sorrow, pain, sadness, gloom, discour- 
agement, despondency, remorse — all these have their 
seat in our sensibilities. From these come both the sun- 
shine and the clouds of life. They bring to us both the 
bitter and the sweet. 

Our emotions are always active, or at least rarely 
in a state of rest, during our waking hours. They are 
in a great measure independent of control. They work 
as they will. The will can influence them, but its con- 
trol is limited. We can not feel any certain way just 
because we will to do so. We can not feel pleased or 
happy or contented just because we desire to do so. Our 
feelings are creatures of influence and circumstances. 
Whatever acts upon our feelings will produce results, 
no matter what it is that acts nor in what manner it 
acts. The feelings have no power of judgment, no 
discretion; they respond to whatever influence works 
^ 215 



216 Winning a Crown 

upon them. They have no power of choice. They are 
like the strings of musical instruments, which respond 
to every touch and likewise to the quality of the touch. 
Circumstances may strike s^veet melodies and rich har- 
monies of rejoicing, or they may strike discords of pain 
and sorrow. The chords that sound out depend more 
upon the player than upon the instrument; for the same 
instrument is capable of sounding forth many differing 
chords. 

I said that the will could influence our feelings, but 
not rule them. The extent to which it may affect them 
depends upon the strength of the will. It may affect 
them in different ways. It may repress them for a 
time. It may put a brake upon them and prevent their 
free action. It may often set bounds to limit them, 
even though it has not perfect control over them. It 
may also set up a contrary influence through some other 
emotion by bringing some influence to bear upon it, and 
thus make one emotion balance or restrict the other. 
This is something that every Christian needs very much 
to learn. We may turn the attention away from that 
which is exciting some emotion to the contemplation of 
something that will either quiet the emotion or set up 
another kind. If we are sad or discouraged or de- 
spondent, and we let our minds run in the channel of 
our feelings, we shall only feel worse and worse. We 
should deliberately turn our minds from the dark side 
of the picture to that which is bright and uplifting. 
Look upon God and the beautiful things of his char- 
acter. Look at the promises of his Word — look at the 



Our Natural Propensities — Continued 217 

things that are in our favor. Look at hopeful things. 
Look away from the gloom and darkness, and you will 
soon jfind that the things at which you look react upon 
your feelings and that the gloomy feelings pass away. 
Giving your thought and attention to these brighter 
things will set up an emotion contrary to that which 
has been working, and it will balance or restrict the 
former, or possibly entirely overcome it. 

Have you ever seen a person who had some trouble 
physically and who seemed to delight in telling his troub- 
le to everybody he met? It was a favorite topic of con- 
versation with him. Of course, the more he would talk 
about it, the more he would feel it and the more con- 
scious of it he would be. Probably if he had quit talk- 
ing about it and forgotten it, he would soon have felt 
all right. It is the same with our spiritual feelings: the 
more we think about our troubles, and the more we tell 
them, the greater they become. Never let bad feelings 
hold your attention. Turn your mind resolutely away 
from them. As often as it comes back to them, turn 
it away to something else, until you form the habit 
of thinking of that which is good and uplifting and 
encouraging. In such things as these we are what we 
make of ourselves. Gloominess is a habit; so is cheer- 
fulness. We can not prevent bad feelings from coming 
sometimes, but we need not give them place or pet them 
when they do come. There are too many good and too 
many beautiful things in life, too many things enjoyable, 
for us to allow our minds to run on the dark side of 
things very much. Whatever occupies our attention, 



218 Winning a Crown 

shuts out other things. Therefore if we let the dark 
side of the picture occupy our attention, we can not 
see the bright side; but if we will turn our eyes away 
from the dark side, we shall find that there is a bright 
side at which we may look. As we look at the bright 
'side, it will react upon our emotions, and we shall be 
joyful instead of being in heaviness. We may be glad 
instead of being in mourning. We may be encouraged 
instead of being discouraged. Say to your emotions 
resolutely, "Thus far shalt thou go and no farther." 
Set a bound for them beyond which they may not pass, 
and repress all bad feelings, and so make way for good 
ones. 

The sensibilities are active and very often try to 
usurp the place of reason and the will. There is danger 
in permitting this. If we decide by our feelings what 
is right and what we ought to do, our feelings may soon 
change, and we shall think something else is right or 
that we ought to do some other way, and so we shall 
be unsettled. One time we shall feel as if we should do 
a thing, and shortly afterwards we may find that we 
feel as if we should not do it. At one time we may 
feel that a thing is right, and soon come to question it 
when we feel some other way. Reason must be the 
master. It is the one that is to lay out our course. Rea- 
son should decide for us what is right and what is 
wrong. Do not let your feelings usurp reason's place. 
Try to understand the principles that are involved. 
Decide the Tightness or wrongness of the thing by these 
principles, not by your feelings. This is the only safe 



Our Natural Propensities — Continued 219 

way. It is only by doing this that you can ever be 
settled in any course of conduct very long at a time. 

The feelings are blind. They can not observe the 
compass ; they can not see the chart ; they can not see 
where the dangers lie. Hence they can not lay a safe 
course. Suppose the captain of a vessel should place 
a blind man in the pilot-house, and this blind man 
should trust to his feelings to mark out the course and 
to steer away from the rocks. Should you like to trust 
your safety to such a pilot .^ This is exactly what you 
do when you trust your feelings to be your pilot on the 
sea of life. Whenever we let feelings usurp the place 
of reason, we have a blind pilot. That is why so many 
persons make shipwreck and why so many get into 
trouble. If the feelings give the will orders how to 
steer and how to use our energies, only disaster can 
come; but this is just what thousands are doing. They 
give more heed to their feelings than to anything else. 
The Word of God counts less than feelings. No mat- 
ter what it says, if their feelings do not agree with it, 
they can not trust it. 

Too many people let feelings make the observations 
in their lives. When they want to know where they 
are, they consult their feelings. They feel that they 
are so and so, and they conclude that feeling knows. 
They must be as they feel, they think, or they would 
not feel so. Suppose you were on a ship when you 
knew that the captain was running the vessel according 
to his feelings. He would suppose himself to be where 
he felt he was. He might have ever so much con- 



220 Winning a Crown 

fidence in his feelings, but would you feel really safe? 
could you make yourself believe that his feelings were 
a safe guide for the ship? If our feelings are not safe 
guides in natural things, are they in spiritual things? 
Notwithstanding the folly of such a course, many per- 
sons judge themselves almost exclusively by their emo- 
tions. When they feel all right, they think they are all 
right; when they do not feel so well, they do not have 
such confidence in themselves. 

Reason has its chart and compass, its sextant and its 
astronomical tables, and all other things necessary to 
make observations with accuracy and certainty. Feel- 
ing only guesses. Shall we take the ready and im- 
pulsive answer of our feelings, or shall we wait for 
reason by its more sure means to tell us the facts? 
When reason speaks and feeling contradicts it, which 
is the safer to believe ? Which is the safer guide ? Some- 
times people know from the standpoint of their reason 
and the Word of God that they are doing what is their 
duty to do as Christians, but at the same time their 
feelings are not what they suppose they ought to be. 
In fact, they may not feel as they desire to at all. Their 
feelings may be exactly opposite to the testimony of 
their understanding. Such persons are often prone to 
accept the testimony of their feelings rather than that 
of their intelligence. This is always an unwise course. 
Our sensibilities are blind; they have no power to dis- 
criminate between fact and falsehood. Whatever we 
accept as truth or probable truth has upon our emotions 
all the force of things known to be facts. If I believe 



Our Natural Propensities — Continued 221 

my friend is dead, I shall have the same feelings as 
though he were dead, no matter if he is in perfect health. 
If we believe that we are wrong in something, we shall 
feel that we are wrong, whether we are or are not. Do 
not be a creature of your feelings. Do not be ruled 
by them. Do not let them mar your peace. Settle your 
condition from some other standpoint. Take the Word 
of God. It will not deceive you, but your feelings may 
if you trust in them. 

Evidence of Feelings Unreliable 

We may feel safe when we are in grave danger. Two 
men were recently walking across a piece of ground. 
They felt very much at ease. There appeared to be 
no danger whatever, but just in front of them was a 
heavy charge of dynamite with a burning fuse attached. 
Only the earnest cries of a man who knew the danger 
saved them from walking right upon it and possibly 
being killed. On the other hand, we may feel that we 
are in danger when we are perfectly safe. The sinner 
often feels very safe in his sins, when, in truth, he is 
in the very greatest danger. Some Christians feel them- 
selves in grave danger, but they are perfectly safe if 
they will but trust God. 

Sometimes people feel very bad when they do not 
know of their having done anything amiss. Again, some 
feel condemned when they have done something that 
they know was not wrong. Their reason tells them that 
it was not wrong. The Bible does not condemn it, and 
yet someway, somehow, they feel condemned over it. 



222 . . Winning a Crown 

The adversary delights to take advantage of us at such 
times if we will permit him. If we do anything that is 
wrong, the Spirit of God will show us what we have 
done that is wrong and why it is wrong. He will not 
leave us to wonder and question. He will put his finger 
on the thing and say, "There it is ; there is the trouble." 
God makes things plain to us. The adversary brings 
confusion. lie generally leaves us in uncertainty. He 
can not point out anything, or usually does not. The 
most he can say usually is, "You have done something. 
There is something wrong." Your feelings are ready to 
join right in with him and echo the strain. Yes, you 
have done something, but what.'' You may argue, "If 
I were saved, I should not feel this way." How do you 
know that you should not? The question is not, How 
do you feel? but. How are jon} Feelings must give 
place to reason. Whenever you judge your condition 
and spiritual standing by your feelings, whether those 
feelings be good or bad, whether they be in your favor 
or against you, you are doing a very unwise thing. Base 
your salvation upon something more substantial than 
feelings. I have seen more than one sinner so enthused 
that he could leap and shout and praise the Lord. I 
have seen more than one good saint crushed down until 
he could not raise his head. 

We can not tell conditions by feelings. Some very 
dangerous diseases produce practically no suffering. I 
have known cases where the danger was very grave and 
Avhere the patients could not be prevailed upon to think 
that there was anything seriously wrong with them. 



Our Natural Propensities — Continued 223 

Some things that are very painful are not dangerous, 
and in fact represent disorder of a very minor char- 
acter. True Christians sometimes have bad feelings 
when these feelings are no index whatever to their spir- 
itual condition. Read the life of John Bunyan. See 
the things that he suffered through his sensitive feelings. 
Sometimes he would feel that he was a great sinner 
and just ready to drop into hell. He was not such; 
he was a pious and holy man. Thousands of others 
have had similar experiences, and the writer is one. 

We have always a surer test than feelings. We be- 
long to the Lord so long as we do not in heart turn 
away from him. So long as we have in our hearts a 
desire and purpose to serve him, he will not cast us off. 
Paul says, "Know ye not your own selves how that 
Jesus Christ is in you, except that ye be reprobates?" 
(2 Cor. 13: 5). He does not say that we know Christ 
is in us when we feel all right, but in effect he says 
that we know Christ is in us if we have not turned away 
from him. What is the underlying purpose of your 
life? Is it to have your own way, or to please the 
Lord? Is it to do evil, or to do good? Let us judge 
ourselves with a righteous judgment. 

The reader must not suppose that because I say so 
much about bad feelings these are the normal and usual 
feelings of a Christian. The Christian life is, on the 
whole, a joyous and victorious life. People are not 
troubled over their good feelings. The more they have 
of them, the better they like it. It is the other kind 
of feelings that trouble them; therefore it is the bad 



224 Winning a Crown 

feelings of which I speak, that I may be helpful to 
those who need help. 

The Sequence of Emotions 

Different emotions may follow each other in rapid 
succession. Joy may succeed sorrow, or rejoicing may 
almost instantly be changed into heaviness. Our feel- 
ings often swing to and fro from one extreme to an- 
other like the pendulum of a clock. When we children 
used to grow enthusiastic and hilarious in our play, our 
folks would remark, "Now look out for a cry next." I 
observed that the tears usually came before the play 
was finished. There is nothing stable about our emo- 
tions. Like the tumble-weed of the Western prairies, 
they roll whichever way the wind blows. This play of 
emotions we see even in Christ. Sometimes he rejoiced 
in spirit; at another time he said, "My soul is exceed- 
ing sorrowful, even unto death" (Matt. 26:38). In 
Paul's life we find this same alternation of joy and 
sorrow, or rejoicing and of heaviness. Peter speaks of 
it thus: "Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for 
a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through mani- 
fold temptations" (1 Pet. 1:6). He knew from his 
own experience that there were times when Christians 
would greatly rejoice and other times, or seasons, as 
he calls them, when they would be in heaviness. He 
implies that these seasons of heaviness are a "need be"; 
he nowhere says the same of the seasons of joy. The 
"need be" seasons must come; the other seasons may 
come. The fact that we enjoy the joy more than the 



Our Natural Propensities — Continued 225 

heaviness does not mean tliat the former is of more 
value to us or that it is more needful to us. 

If children have too much candy, it spoils their 
digestion and appetite. Some people arc blessing-hunt- 
ers. Their chief prayer is, "O Lord, bless me"; and 
they count nothing a blessing but joyful emotions. Such 
emotions stand in the same relation to the soul that 
candy does to the body. We can easily get along with- 
out candy, but our lives depend upon good, nourishing 
food. We could get along very well without blessings, 
but we must have those needful things that develop the 
soul. We could serve God all our days and reach 
heaven safely in the end if we never in all our lives 
had a single emotion of joy. Our service could be just 
as faithful and just as acceptable. Our good feelings 
do not recommend us to God. They are often a source 
of weakness to us. Just when emotions subside, we 
are the least able to meet difficulties. Joyful emotions 
are delightful, but they do not strengthen. They do not 
give a finer quality to faith. Sometimes emotions run 
very high. The soul seems carried out of itself. It 
rejoices with "joy unspeakable and full of glory," but 
right at the end of this rejoicing comes faith's critical 
period. Very often we come down off the mountain of 
trans figiiration only to find a devil to be cast out. Very 
often after a period of rejoicing comes a period of 
serious testing. The reaction is inevitable. The farther 
our feelings swing to the one extreme, the farther they 
will swing to the other when the reaction comes. I 
have seen people so happy that they could almost im- 



226 Winning a Crown 

agine themselves in heaven, and a few hours later have 
seen them in the greatest distress. The reaction had 
come. Their good feelings were gone and they did not 
know how to meet the situation. 

In a meeting which I attended a number of years ago, 
a young sister sought the Lord for entire sanctification. 
Whole-hearted and earnest, she sought diligently, and 
she soon received what she sought. Her emotions were 
very greatly wrought upon. It seemed as if she would 
never stop rejoicing. She kept on for a long time, break- 
ing forth again and again with praises to God. She 
seemed overwhelmed by her emotions. I called my wife's 
attention to her and said, "You had better go and talk 
to her presently; for when this joy subsides, something 
else is going to come." About an hour later my wife 
went and hunted her up and found her in the deepest 
gloom. The reaction had come, and she was doubting 
that God had done a work for her. She was almost 
ready to give it up entirely. Her faith was rapidly 
slipping away from her. The needed encouragement 
and instruction were given, and in a little while she was 
again believing with a stedfast faith. Years have passed, 
but she is still sanctified. 

Almost always a testing- time comes just after the 
emotions have been wrought up. It is just at such a 
juncture that things take hold most upon us, and it is 
just at such times that we have the greatest difficulty 
in preserving our equilibrium. Such emotions are not 
ftn unmixed blessing. We need to learn this certain 



Our Natural Propensities — Continued 227 

reaction and to be prepared to meet it; otherwise our 
faith is likely to be greatly shaken. 

Sometimes we have conflicting emotions. We may 
have two opposite emotions at the same time, or rapidly 
changing emotions. We may seem to glide from one 
to another and have several different sets of them in a 
single day's time. If we try to test our standing before 
God by emotions, we are thrown into confusion. Form 
the habit of judging yourself, not by your emotions, but 
by your purposes and intentions. Do not be swerved 
from that. Feelings will be a source of weakness to 
you if you do not. 

The Powerful Influence of Our Emotions 

Our emotions seem so clearly to be the true indica- 
tion of existing facts that we often have much difficulty 
in discrediting them, no matter what may be the evidence 
to the contrary. W^e can sometimes overlook the most 
positive evidence easier than we can set aside the tes- 
timony of our feelings, especially when we are used 
to relying upon our feelings. Some become the creatures 
of their emotions. They never know that they are right 
except when they have joyous emotions. Just as soon 
as these subside, such persons begin to question them- 
selves. While they feel all right, they know they are 
all right; but if the voice of emotion is stilled, they no 
longer have any evidence of their salvation. As a re- 
sult, they are often in confusion and are never certain 
of themselves for more than a short period. They are 
the slaves of a hard master. When their master smiles. 



228 Winning a Crown 

they are elated and confident; when he frowns, they are 
in despair. Some people seem to live in a dark, deep 
pit of bad feelings. They manage to climb up now and 
then so that they can see the sunshine and rejoice in its 
rays for a time; but soon they lose their hold and fall 
down into their pit again, there to sit in melancholy 
shadows and to brood over their sad fate. They could 
get out of their pit and stay out if they would trust 
God and his Word instead of their feelings, but they 
can not persuade themselves that anything is true that 
contradicts their feelings. O soul, break away from 
this bondage and get out in God's sunshine and base 
your hope on a surer foundation ! 

Emotions No Basis for a Settled Experience 

If our experience is founded on our feelings, it is 
like a house-boat floating on the water. We are tossed 
to and fro by every wave and every wind, and drifted 
by every current or tide. A house built on a good 
foundation stands firm. It is not moved. God provides 
a good foundation for everybody. If we will build on 
that, we may stand, and not be tossed about. That 
foundation is faith. It is a sure foundation. No one 
can ever have repose of soul long who judges himself 
by his feelings. Emotions can never be the basis of a 
settled experience. The soul who trusts in them will 
never be sure of himself for more than a short period. 
He is like a man trying to balance himself on a floating 
log which rolls now this way, now that way, and which 
is whirled about by every eddy and turn of the current. 



Our Natural Propensities — Continued 229 

We do not have to be spiritual acrobats to serve God. 
Settled peace comes only from a settled faith. I have 
seen many souls in trouble who when asked what was 
the matter could only answer, "Oh, I do not know, only 
I do not feel right.'* The more they looked at their 
feelings, the worse they felt. 

One of the greatest evils that can come to any Chris- 
tian is for him to set up an ideal standard for his feel- 
ings and condemn himself or question himself whenever 
they fall short of his expectations. He soon develops 
a morbid sensitiveness that leads him into a maze of 
uncertainties and brings him into distress whenever his 
emotions fall below the point that he has marked as 
zero on his spiritual thermometer. Your thermometer 
of feelings may register only the influences that sur- 
round you, and be no true test whatever of your spiritual 
state. Throw away your home-made thermometers. Take 
God's tester, which is his Word, and measure your life 
by it. When you trust in your old feeling-thermometer, 
if it goes down below your zero-mark you are almost 
sure to think that you are frozen to death spiritually. 
You desire a settled experience. Very well. You may 
have it, provided you will go about getting it in the only 
possible way that it may be attained. It must be based 
on something more substantial than your emotions. God 
has a sure foundation. If you will build on that, you 
may stand secure. Learn to value your emotions at 
their true worth. At the very best, joyful emotions 
are only the foam on the waters of salvation. Do not 
suppose there is no water if there is no foam. Do not 



,280 Winning a Cron>n 

judge the depth of the water by the amount of foam. 
It is usually the case that the more foam there is, the 
shallower the water is. Enjoy your pleasant emotions 
when they come; but when they have gone, do not sup- 
pose that it is because of a change in your spiritual con- 
dition. There will be seasons of joy fulness and seasons 
of heaviness, but remember that a few bad feelings do 
not frighten the Hioly Spirit away from our hearts. 



Our Natural Propensities — Continued 

Reaction and Interaction 

Man is a trinity of the physical, the mental, and the 
moral, or spiritual. These are not three seperate, dis- 
tinct, and independent parts. They are united into a 
mutually dependent whole. Each part is related to and 
affected by each other part. What affects one part 
affects the whole. Anything that throws one part out 
of balance reacts upon the others. Any abnormal state 
of one part has its reaction on the others and hinders 
or prevents their normal functioning. Lack of under- 
standing of this has led many persons to judge wrongly 
themselves and others. Many persons have condemned 
themselves or others for things which, though they were 
manifested in the moral, did not have their origin in 
the moral at all, but were only reactions from the 
physical or mental. We can never understand either 
ourselves or others until we learn the facts involved in 
these relations of the various parts of our being. Every 
one who would be a spiritual teacher should care- 
fully inform himself regarding the principles of psy- 
chology and physiology. Without this knowledge he 
will be at a disadvantage in dealing with souls. He will 
often judge from appearance instead of judging right- 
eous judgment. We all owe it to ourselves to study 
ourselves till we are able to tell the forces that are 
producing the spiritual and mental effects by which we 
usually judge our religious standing. We should study 
ourselves until we know the causes that produce the 

231 



232 Winning a Crown 

effect that troubles us. If we merely guess at them, we 
shall often guess wrong. There is always an under- 
lying cause for every effect, but that cause may some- 
times be considerably removed from the effect or from 
the manifestations that it produces. 

Effect of the Physical 

Our physical being affects very strongly our mental 
and religious organization. When the physical powers 
are buoyant and we are full of vitality and animal spirits, 
the stimulus of this reacts upon the mind and soul so 
that we may easily be care-free and joyous. At such 
times we may meet and overcome with ease things that 
at other times might prove very hard for us. On the 
contrary, when the physical forces are at a low ebb and 
the vital energies are tested to overcome disease or 
weakness, there is an opposite reaction and both mind 
and spirit feel the effect. Many times people are men- 
tally dull and inactive wholly on account of some phy- 
sical derangement. The same thing affects them spir- 
itually. Chronic diseases, especially of certain kinds, 
often react to produce gloom, discouragement, and un- 
rest. Any disease that constantly draws upon the vital- 
ity of the system is likely to produce such an effect. 
Such things naturally discourage and render us des- 
pondent. A man once went to a minister and told him 
a long tale of woe concerning his spiritual troubles. 
The minister listened patiently, as ministers must lis- 
ten to such things, and when he had heard the story, 
he said, "Oh, brother, I'll tell you what's the matter 



Our Natural Propensities — Continued 233 

with you: your liver is out of order." That preacher 
knew the secret of many people's spiritual trouble. 

I suppose the majority of the bad feelings that Chris- 
tians have come from livers or kidneys that do not 
function properly, indigestion, or some other disorder 
of the physical functions or organs. Dyspepsia almost 
always reacts upon the mental and spiritual. A dys- 
peptic does not feel much like smiling, neither does a 
bilious person. A great many troubles that seem to be 
spiritual troubles do not indicate anything wrong in 
the spiritual nature whatever. They are merely reac- 
tions from the physical. Many women have their spir- 
itual skies obscured and suffer much from doubts and 
discouragements simply as a result of reaction from 
special diseases or weaknesses with which they are af- 
flicted. Do not be too ready to suppose that bad feel- 
ings come from a bad condition of the heart. If we are 
doing what we know to do and serving the Lord to the 
best of our understanding, we need not suppose that 
our bad feelings come from our hearts' being wrong. 
We may look somewhere else for the cause. We are all 
aware of the effect of a heavy cold or of a toothache 
or something else that causes severe suffering or acute 
derangement of any part. It is often very difficult to 
pray or to have faith when we are suffering. Many 
times we can not think with clearness. The mental 
and the spiritual are both strongly affected by the reac- 
tion from the physical. The reaction from chronic 
diseases is no less certain, though it may manifest it- 
self in a somewhat different way. Whatever affects 



234 Winning a Crown 

the physical^ whether it be disease or something else, 
affects also^ by its reaction, the mental and the spir- 
itual. A striking example of such reactions is the ex- 
perience of an old-time New England circuit-rider, who 
made the following entries in his diary: 

"Wed. eve. Arrived at the home of Bro. Brown late 
this evening, hungry and tired after a long day in the 
saddle. Had a bountiful supper of cold pork and beans, 
warm bread, bacon and eggs, coffee and rich pastry. I 
go to rest feeling that my witness is clear; the future 
is bright; I feel called to a great and glorious work at 
this place. Bro. Brown's family are godly people." 

The next entry was as follows: 

"Thurs. morn. Awakened late this morning after 
a troubled night. I am very much depressed in soul; 
the way looks dark; far from feeling called to work 
among this people, I am beginning to doubt the safety 
of my own soul. I am afraid the desires of Bro. Brown 
and his family are set too much on carnal things." 

His whole outlook was changed, and, not under- 
standing his trouble, he, like many another, thought his 
trouble was in his heart, whereas it was really in his 
stomach. 

Overeating often renders us dull, so that we find it 
very difficult to concentrate our minds on anything. At 
such times we can not pray with the same earnestness 
and grasp of faith as at other times. We can not feel 
the same interest in spiritual or mental things. Over- 
work often produces similar results. After a hard day's 
work we can not read with the same mental grasp or atten- 



Our Natural Propensities — Continued 285 

tion that we can at other times, and we can not pray 
as we are used to doing at other times. The man who 
comes in after a hard day's work and picks up his 
Bible and tries to read it, often finds his mind wander- 
ing to other things, or he finds himself sleeping and 
unable to get any satisfaction out of what he reads. 
He may find little delight in family worship. His 
prayer may seem dull and dry and meaningless, and 
he may become greatly tried because of this. The trouble 
is he has used up his energy in the day's work. He is 
weary in soul and in mind as well as in body. What he 
needs to restore him is a good rest. When the physical 
forces are restored, he will find that his spiritual and 
mental tone is also restored. A generally worn-out 
physical state is bound to react on the spiritual. That 
is why many people find themselves seemingly so much 
less spiritual in the summer-time than in the winter. 
It is because their forces are used up in physical labors, 
and, having only about so much force to expend, they 
find themselves subnormal spiritually. If we want to 
prosper spiritually, therefore, we must not overwork, 
but leave ourselves with sufficient energy for our spiri- 
tual duties. If we seem to be compelled to overwork, 
we should arrange circumstances so that we shall not 
be, if that is at all possible ; but if we can not, we ought 
to take this into consideration and not blame ourselves 
for not being as spiritual as we ought to be, when it is 
merely a lack of the necessary energy. 

People who arc in a highly nervous state will have 
more or less spiritual trouble on account of it. They 



236 Winning a Crown 

will have many trials that others do not have. They 
are likely to be filled with apprehensions and melan- 
choly. They are apt to be tried when in such a state 
by things that would not trouble them at all if they 
were in a normal condition. We ought to take all these 
reactions into consideration, and, in judging our spir- 
itual condition, we must do this, or else we shall have 
continual trouble. 

Any functional desire of the physical when excited 
has a corresponding mental effect. When we are hun- 
gry, we naturally think of food and of meal-time. How 
slow the time seems to go when we are waiting for a 
meal ! and the hungrier we are, the slower it seems to 
go. All our functional desires act in the same way, 
directing our thoughts to the means of their gratifica- 
tion. We may turn our minds away from them, but 
the tendency is for our thoughts to come right back 
to the same subject again. Persons are sometimes very 
much troubled about this, in regard to certain functions. 
They need not be, however; it is the natural physical 
results. It is only nature's way of looking out for 
herself. 

Effect of the Mental 

The effect of the mind upon the body is often very 
powerful. This is illustrated in the cases of stigmata 
which are on record. People of certain temperaments 
have thought about the wounds of Christ until there 
have appeared upon their own bodies marks in the 
places where they suppose the marks were upon his 



Our Natural Propensities — Continued 237 

body. There are several such cases upon record. Not 
long ago there was reported in the press the case of 
a man who attempted to commit suicide, but failed 
without doing himself any physical injury. Two hours 
later he died. The coroner's verdict was "mental sui- 
cide." The reaction of the unfortunate man's thoughts 
upon his physical being was such as to destroy his phys- 
ical life. Many physical derangements come from 
worry and fear. On the other hand, opposite emotions 
produce opposite effects upon the physical. The Wise 
Man said, "A cheerful heart is a good medicine, but 
a broken spirit drieth up the bones" (Prov. 17:22, A. 
S. v.). This is why doctors always want their patients 
encouraged. A gloomy face or a gloomy voice in the 
sick-room is a great hindrance to the sick person. The 
effect of the mental reacting upon the spiritual is just 
as real and powerful as upon the physical. 

Effect of Conscious Mental Action 

We may say that the human mind is divided into two 
different parts — that of conscious mind and that of sub- 
conscious mind. We are conscious of the working of the 
first, but the second works without our knowledge, and 
we become conscious of its action only through the fin- 
ished results. Life has its bright side and its dark side. 
We may look upon whichever side we will. If we let 
our minds look upon dark and gloomy things, if we let 
ourselves be harassed by worry and fear, we have no 
one to blame but ourselves. If we give our minds over 
to such thifigs, we may discourage ourselves and in that 



238 Winning a Crown 

discouragement only be reaping what we have sown. 
If we bum our fingers, we must endure the pain; like- 
wise if we let our minds run on gloomy things, we must 
bear the soul-pain that follows. The greater part of 
our troubles are home-made, and this is true of spir- 
itual troubles as well as of any other kind. They arc 
only the reaction of our wrong mental habits. If you 
wish to be joyful and victorious, keep your mind upon 
the things that will tend to make you so. Look away 
from that which is dark and gloomy. Look to that which 
will arouse different emotions. Never harbor gloomy 
thoughts; banish them from your mind. You can be 
cheerful if you will. You may not be able to correct 
bad mental habits at once; but if you set yourself reso- 
lutely to the task, you can break yourself of them and 
establish right habits of thought, and this will go far 
toward bringing spiritual serenity. 

Sometimes people are troubled over bad dreams. They 
dream of things that are evil, and sometimes take this 
as an indication that they are not right in their souls. 
They think that if they were pure they would not have 
dreams of impure or evil things. Such dreams are no 
indication of the soul's condition, any more than a good 
dream is an indication that one is saved. Many dreams 
come from physical causes, and we should not count 
them as having any moral quality. 

Although we have no control over our dreams, wc do 
have control over our waking thoughts, at least to a 
great extent; and we can turn them into right channels 
till by habit they run there naturally. Sometimes there 



Our Natural Propensities — Continued 239 

come to the mind thoughts that are undesirable. We 
put them away from us, but they return almost imme- 
diately. They persist in doing this notwithstanding all 
our efforts to banish them. The only thing that we can 
do in such a case is to keep banishing them from our 
minds as much as possible until they run their course 
and we can thus get entirely rid of them. We ought 
not to condemn ourselves for our inability to shut out 
such thoughts from our minds, for the ability to shut 
them out does not always depend upon our will. They 
come and go, and we hardly know why nor whence. It 
is only when we welcome them and indulge them that 
they Avork evil with the soul. 

Subconscious Mental Effect 

The subconscious mind is that part of the mind that 
works without our knowing it, or being conscious of its 
activity. It is the subconscious mind that works out 
most of the problems of life for us. Our minds may be 
likened to a factory of two rooms. In one we stand 
and look about and see what is going on, but we know 
nothing of what is going on in the other, until a truck- 
load of the finished product is run out into our sight. 
Many of the thoughts that seem to come to our minds 
from nowhere in particular come from the subconscious 
mind. They are projected into the conscious mind from 
it, and it seems as though they just struck our minds 
someway, and we know not their source, unless we know 
of the subconscious action of our minds. Sometimes we 
get to thinking over a subject, and then our attention 



240 Winning a Crown 

is called away, and we forget it. A few days later the 
thought all worked out to a conclusion presents itself 
to our minds. The subconscious mind has seized upon 
the thought that was in the conscious mind and has 
kept working upon it until it has solved it to its satis- 
faction, and then it presents the result of its action to 
the conscious mind. 

Sometimes our minds are suddenly filled with thoughts 
that bring joy and an uplift to the soul. These often 
result from something that has been taken into the sub- 
conscious mind and there wrought upon and finally 
turned back suddenly into the conscious mind. The 
opposite also is true. Oftentimes gloomy thoughts and 
feelings suddenly come upon us and we have no idea 
whence they come, when, in reality, some thought that 
was in our mind days or weeks before went into the 
subconscious mind and there worked, and now it comes 
out in a flood of gloom. Many seasons of gloominess 
and trial have their development in the subconscious 
mind, and the spiritual effect is only the reaction from 
the subconscious mind. Every time you allow yourself 
to think over dark and discouraging things, you are in 
danger of the thoughts' sinking into your subconscious 
mind and coming out later on in a flood of discourage- 
ment. It is probable that the greater part of our spir- 
itual trouble comes from either physical or spiritual 
reaction, Satan having nothing whatever to do with it. 
If we know of these reactions and treat them as reac- 
tions, we shall not feel that there is something wrong 
in our souls when we feel bad spiritually. 



Our Natural Propensities — Continued 241 

External Influences 

We are often strongly influenced by the persons 
around us. We may be either encouraged or discour- 
aged by them. We sometimes come into contact with 
those who are melancholy or under deep trial or dis- 
couragement, and their feelings react on us to produce 
unpleasant results. We feel ourselves depressed in 
spirit, or we may become deeply tried by partaking of 
the influence resting on them, in just the same way as 
we become uplifted and encouraged by a person who is 
full of sunshine and good cheer. We need to recognize 
the probability of this influence of others working upon 
us. We need to guard ourselves against yielding to such 
influence, except where the influence is good, any more 
than it is possible to avoid. 

Natural conditions, such as the weather, climate, 
scenery, etc., often affect our feelings very strongly. 
Bright, sunny weather often reacts upon us to make 
us cheerful and happy ; dark, gloomy weather has a 
tendency to depress our spirits. Unpleasant surround- 
ings or uncongenial employment often affects us for ill, 
causing homesickness, gloominess, and like feelings. 

Besides those influences already mentioned, there are 
direct spiritual influences that work upon us. God^ by 
his Spirit, often strongly influences us. His influence 
is always for good; it always uplifts and helps and 
brightens. He often manifests himself to us when we 
are not expecting it. Sometimes during physical suf- 
fering or other distress he comes to us with such sweet- 



242 Winning a Crown 

ness and blessedness that we are quite lifted above our 
affliction. He can make us joyful in all our tribulations. 
Just in our time of need his Spirit is with us. He com- 
forts and helps and cheers; in fact, he is all and in 
all to us. 

We are also subject to other spiritual influences. Evil 
spirits abound. Sometimes heavy depressions suddenly 
settle down upon us; heavy clouds obscure our sky, and 
we know no reason why they should. Fiery and unex- 
pected temptations come upon us. Sometimes we are 
conscious that such are the direct influence of evil agents. 
These experiences are not indications that we are not 
right in our souls, and we should not question ourselves 
>vrongly at such times. We may feel these influences 
very keenly. We may have hand-to-hand combat with 
demons in the spiritual element. We may sometimes be 
hard pressed. At such times we should resist stedfastly 
in the faith. We should hold fast our confidence in our- 
selves and in God, and expect to have power from God 
to overcome. Satan has power to affect our feelings 
very strongly, and also power to put thoughts into our 
minds; and he often takes advantage of this power. 
Sometimes we realize that we have two kinds of feel- 
ings simultaneously, one superficial and the other deeper, 
and that there is a conflict between these feelings. Some- 
times profane or impure thoughts will be impressed 
upon our minds^ and if we do not understand their 
source, we may be greatly troubled over them. There 
may sometimes be feelings of resentment toward God 
or a feeling of purposes that are quite out of harmony 



Our Natural Propensities — Continued 243 

with the Christian life or experience. Sometimes souls 
haring this experience are horrified and think them- 
selves in a deplorable condition ; when, in reality, these 
things come directly from Satan, and not from them- 
selves at all. They do not spring from the heart, but 
are from an external influence. Underneath these feel- 
ings are the true feelings and purposes of the soul. 
These deeper and better feelings show the real state 
and condition of the heart. We should not condemn our- 
selves because Satan imposes such feelings or thoughts 
upon us. If we will simply resist them and assert in 
our souls that we will not accept them nor have anything 
to do with them, we may overcome them and be none 
the worse for them, although the experience may be 
rather trying to our souls while we are passing through 
it. 

Being subject, as we are, to all these influences, we 
ought not to suppose that all our difficulties are soul 
difficulties. The thing to do is to keep our hearts open 
before God; to keep our purposes and lives pure; to 
Jive by faith, not by our feelings; to judge ourselves, 
not by our emotions or the influences brought to bear 
upon us, but by the inmost purposes of our hearts. If 
the reader will carefully study the facts already enu- 
merated and get hold of them until he understands them 
for himself, they will be of the greatest value to him 
in the Christian life. 



ilieg with the Scales 

No matter how accurate and reliable a set of scales 
may be, if thej^ are meddled with they may be made in- 
accurate and und.ependable. If we v^^ere weighing coal 
and the scales , were out of balance a few pounds, it 
would not matter so much ; but if we were weighing 
diamonds or gold, a very little variation would amount 
to a great deal. The more valuable that which we weigh, 
the more necessary it is that the scales be properly ad- 
justed and accurate to a high degree. When it comes 
to a standard of weighing the human soul, that should 
be the most accurate of all standards. When it comes 
to judging ourselves, it is important that we have a 
right standard of judgment. That right standard God 
fiirnishes. in his ¥/ord^ It will v/eigh us accurately if 
we take it as it is ; but if we misinterpret it or turn it 
out of its natural course and meaning, we may judge 
ourselves very wrongly by it. W^hat we need to do is to 
be -absolutely fair with ourselves. W^e must not allow 
Qurselves to be prejudiced either in our favor or against 
ourselves. If our standard of judgment is so low that 
it permits us to be impure in heart and purposes and to 
do things that are wrong in the sight of God, that stand- 
ard is evil for us, and we are not just to ourselves. If 
we have too high a standard and require more of our- 
selves .thai'i is just. and right, again. we do ourselves an 
i^ijnry. 

We must learn to be fair to ourselves. W^e must re- 
quire of ourselves all that we ought to require, but noth- 

244< 



Meddling with the Scales 245 

ing more than that. In many lives the ideal is far too 
]ow_, and consequently the life is too low. In other 
cases the ideal is too high and is entirely out of reach 
and can never be attained. We should have high ideals, 
but these ideals should be practicable and should r:Ot 
overlook the facts of human life. They should always 
be balanced by common sense. We should not live in 
a spiritual dreamland ; for in practise we shall ever have 
to face the cold facts of life. These facts, not our 
dreams and imaginations, are what we must adjust our- 
selves to. If we have too high a standard, we shall 
always be coming short of it and condemning ourselves. 
A high ideal, if not too high, is a strong incentive to 
progress; but when it is made the standard by which 
we judge our present attainment, it tends to discour- 
age us and becomes a real barrier to our progress. We 
can never attain to our ideals because they will ever 
grow as we grow, and they will continue to be in ad- 
vance of us no matter how fast we grow. We must 
have a practicable, not an ideal, standard of judgment. 

Making some one else our standard has its dangers. 
We can not see another's inner life. We know nothing 
of his conflicts or his secret faults: We can see only 
the external manifestations. We do know our own inner 
life, but we can know theirs only as we judge it from 
outward appearance. God wants each of us to judge 
himself by His Word, not by any other standard, and he 
does not want us to judge ourselves by ah ideal beyond 
our reach. 

People often make a serious mistake in comparint/ 



246 Winning a Crown 

themselves tvith some one of a different temperament. 
It is very common to suppose that if a person makes 
many demonstrations in religion, he has a great deal of 
religion, and that if he is very quiet, he has no religion 
to speak of, I traveled for a number of years in the 
gospel work with a minister whose temperament was 
decidedly emotional and who would sometimes become 
very demonstrative, leaping and shouting, and mani- 
festing his feelings very plainly. I was of a rather 
unemotional temperament. I had powerful emotions 
sometimes, but it was not my disposition to give vent to 
them. People therefore judged that he had a much 
better experience than I had, and oftentimes I heard 
people remark that they wished that they had an expe- 
rience like his. No one ever seemed to wish that about 
me. No one seemed to covet in the least an experience 
like mine. They all wanted one like his, because they 
thought he was so happy. We both had the same sal- 
vation and served the same God. The difference was 
a difference of temperament. 

Salvation is not a thing of temperament, though man- 
ifestation is. To make our feelings and emotions a 
standard, is to make our temperament the standard. 
Those of other temperaments will differ from us. They 
can not and will not have the same experience so far 
as feelings and emotions are concerned. Great havoc 
has been caused by unwise preaching on these points. 
Preachers often relate their experiences, telling how 
happy they were and what wonderful emotions they had 
when they were converted. Others, hearing them, are 



Meddling with the Scales 247 

led to suppose that if they too obtain salvation they 
will have these same emotions ; so when they seek sal- 
vation, they seek these emotions. If they are of a dif- 
ferent temperament, they do not experience them, and 
as a result they find it very difficult to suppose that 
they are saved at all. The preaching that emotion is 
ever a sign of salvation, in the sense that we can base 
our hope of God's favor and heaven upon it, is a serious 
error. Faith is the fundamental. Believing in God is 
what counts. Emotion is a superficial thing. It is not 
a reliable evidence, and when people are taught to look 
upon their feelings as evidences, they do not get a set- 
tled experience, an experience that will take them 
through hard places when their feelings subside. A 
man's religion does not consist in the joy that he has 
nor in the amount of noise he makes, but in the atti- 
tude of his heart toward God. 

Preaching should never go beyond the bounds of com- 
mon sense. We should never let our enthusiasm run 
away with our judgment. When feelings are preached, 
the strong-nerved preacher will preach a strong-nerved 
gospel, and the weak-nerved one will preach a weak- 
nerved gospel. The first will make no allowance for 
those who have weak nerves and who suffer the trials 
incident to their nervous condition; so he is likely to 
be the cause of bringing them into severe trials and 
conflicts. He has no idea of how things look and are to 
them. The other makes allowance for the infirmities 
of the weak and preaches his own experience. The 
strong-nerved persons who hear him know that his expe- 



248 Winning a Crown 

rience is not like theirs, and they think that he is lower- 
ing the standard. The thing to do is to preach the 
Word. We may use our experiences to illustrate the 
things that we preachy but we ought to make it clear 
that experiences differ widely in many respects and 
that we should never judge one another by our experi- 
ences, nor should we expect our experiences to corre- 
spond fully with that of some one else. 

The effect of too high a standard is always to dis- 
courage. We should have a proper standard, but not 
an ideal standard. We ought to require nothing of our- 
selves or others beyond a practical and common-sense 
Christian life. Sometimes the standard of a sanctified 
life is placed altogether too high, being out of reach. 
I once heard a sermon that left the impression on me 
that the preacher felt thus: "I am up here and a few 
others are up here, but the most of you are down there, 
and you know that you are down there, and you are 
going to have a very hard time to get up here if you 
ever do succeed." The effect of that sermon was very 
discouraging, but it is far from the only one of the sort 
that has been preached. Many souls have been crushed 
by such preaching. 

Many times I have heard the experience of sanctifi- 
cation described as such an ideal state that I knew the 
preacher himself nor any one else had ever attained 
to such a state and never would in this life. Sanctifica- 
tion means the purification of our natures, but it does 
not mean the perfecting of our human faculties. It does 
not mean that we are automatically perfect in patience 



Meddling with the Scales 249 

or kindness nor that we are in a state where our emotions 
will always be sweet and ideal. It does not mean that 
we shall never have a feeling of impatience or anger. 
Anger comes from the violation of our sense of justice. 
There are two forms of anger. One is vindictive anger, 
which causes one to have feelings of resentment and 
vengeance, and which would feel pleased at the suf- 
fering of the offender. This is sinful anger. The other 
is that indignation which arises from a sense of the 
evil nature of the act or thing, and which does not 
excite vindictive feelings toward the object. Christ 
was angry when he reproved the Pharisees (Mark 3: 5), 
and justly so, for their wicked conduct was such as 
could not but excite his indignation. The Bible speaks 
of God's indignation, his anger, his wrath, his fury, etc., 
but we know that nevertheless he is holy. In fact, it 
was this very quality of holiness that caused him to be 
angry with wickedness. The stronger our sense of jus- 
tice and our love of holiness, the stronger will be the 
sense of disapprobation that evil-doing will excite in us. 
The Bible nowhere teaches us that a sanctified man 
will never be angry. Instead it teaches what he should 
do when angry. "Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the 
sun go down upon your wrath" (Eph. 4:26). One of 
the requirements of a bishop is that he should be holy, 
and another is that he should not be "soon angry" (Tit. 
1:7), that is, he was to be a man who possessed proper 
self-control. I am not arguing in favor of getting angry, 
but simply to show that if a person does become angry, 
it does not necessarily prove that his heart is impure. 



250 Winning a Crown 

We need to guard very carefully all our natural fac- 
ulties and control them so that they do not lead us into 
sin. Sanctification makes us much more equable in temper 
than we were before, so that many things that angered 
us before do not have that effect upon us now. 

That anger which comes from an ugly temper or 
from wounded pride is not a mark of the Christian. This 
sort of thing and the love of God will not abide in the 
same heart. When the grace of God comes in, that kind 
of anger goes out to stay. The love of God softens our 
hearts and our natures, and the more of his love and 
power there is in us, the more kind and tender and af- 
fectionate we are. When we are filled with the fulness 
of God in entire sanctification, it brings to us a calmness 
and quietness and self-control that helps us to preserve 
moderation in all our ways. The mere feeling of dis- 
pleasure or anger that now arises in the modified form 
that it does manifest itself in the Christian, is not sin- 
ful in its nature. Sometimes people say they are tempted 
to be angry. They might as well say they are tempted 
to be joyful or sad or thankful. Anger is an involun- 
tary emotion. We can not be tempted to be angry, 
but the temptation is to do or say something wrong when 
we are angry. 

Do not condemn yourself as not being sanctified just 
because you sometimes feel these emotions that some 
idealists say that you will not feel. Judge yourself 
by the Bible and common sense. Some say that anger 
comes from depravity. If Sfo, from whence does it come 



Meddling with the Scales 251 

in the animal? Depravity in man affects it to make it 
vindictive. Then, and not until then, does it become 
sinful. The more of God we have in us, the more like 
God we shall be in these feelings and the more perfect 
will be both our temper and our conduct. 

JVe ought to have the same standard of judgment for 
ourselves that we have for others. There are those 
who have a lower standard for themselves and excuse 
in themselves that which they could not and would not 
excuse in some one else. They are ready to condemn 
others for doing the very same things that they them- 
selves do or things that involve the same principle. 
They find no excuse for others, but only condemnation, 
but they have a ready excuse for themselves whenever 
they are guilty of a like thing. Others go to the oppo- 
site extreme. They have a higher standard for them- 
selves than they have for any one else. They can ex- 
cuse others for doing what they themselves would not 
feel clear in doing. They condemn themselves for 
things that they would not condemn others for. They 
can find excuses for others, but none for themselves. 
By adopting either of these courses, we do wrong to 
ourselves. God has the same standard for judging all 
people, and he desires that we have the same standard 
tor judging ourselves. The standard we set for others 
is more likely to be correct than the one we set for 
ourselves. If the standard we set for ourselves is not 
a proper standard by which to judge others, it is not 
the proper one by which to judge ourselves. There 
is 8 true and just standard. Let us seek that and apply 



S52 Winning a Crown 

it to our own lives and the lives of others. The true 
standard is neither too high nor too low. 

The standard by which God judges us is flexible, that 
is, he holds us responsible only for what we know; 
hence the greater the light, the greater the responsibility 
of the person. Others will never be judged by our 
light nor we by theirs. It is only when persons have 
the same degree of light and when the circumstances 
are alike that the same standard is applicable to two 
or more individuals. But where light and circumstances 
are the same on any point, all must be judged by the 
same rule; and what is right for one is right for all, 
and what is wrong for one is wrong for all. 

Sometimes people act as prosecuters, witnesses, judge, 
and jury to secure their own condemnation. Their 
consciences are so sensitive that they are ready to con- 
demn themselves for various slight and trivial things-^ 
things that God pays no attention to at all and that 
they should not trouble themselves about. It is unwise 
to be always questioning our lives down to the minutest 
details. If our purpose is to serve God and we act upon 
that purpose, we need not watch ourselves so closely. 
It will be natural for us to do right. We shall feel dis- 
posed to do right, shall want to do right, and will do 
right. We need not spy upon ourselves and play the 
detective upon ourselves all the time. The Christian 
life is a natural life. Just live naturally. Do not feel 
all the time as though you were going to do something 
wrong. Do not treat yourself like a suspected criminal. 
God wants you free from all this care. He wants you 



Meddling with the Scales 253 

free from all such fear. He wants you to have confidence 
that you are going to please him, and to act with the 
assurance that confidence brings. Get away from the 
idea that you must watch yourself so closely to prevent 
yourself from doing wrong. We must, of course, watch 
our conduct and not be careless and indifferent, but liv- 
ing the Christian life is not like trying to walk on a 
wire. It does not require any strain or struggle to 
keep balanced. No, the Christian path is broad enough 
for us to set our feet down squarely and to walk with 
ease and comfort. If Christ lives in us, will he not 
live out his life in us as naturally as he lived it out 
in his own fleshly body here in this world. Trust your- 
self to him and have confidence that he will work out in 
you the things that are well pleasing in his sight. Some 
one has said, "Do your best and trust the rest." There 
is much wisdom in that saying. Think it over until 
you get what it means and then put it in practise in 
your life. Do not all the time be trying to do what 
you can not do and what you have never succeeded in 
doing and never will succeed in doing. "It is God 
which worketh in jou both to will and to do of his 
good pleasure"; therefore just let him will and do in 
your life and trust him to do it. 

Overvaluing or depreciating ourselves and our work 
is another unwise thing. Whichever we do will turn 
out bad. It is not true humility to be always crit- 
icizing and undervaluing ourselves. If we do a thing, 
it is neither better nor worse than if some one else had 
done it, and we should not so regard it. Let us not 



254 Winning a Crown 

have a double standard, one for ourselves and one for 
others, but let us have the same standard for all, and 
let that be a just and right standard, one that God's 
approval will rest upon. Then we may live satisfactory 
lives and have the blessing and approval of Gt)d upon 
us. The Bible and good common sense — that is the 
true and only standard by which we must be judged. 



Acceptable Service 

We read in the Bible of the form and the power of 
godliness, and when we look about us in the world, we 
see more of the form than we do of the power. There 
seems to be so many people who are merely playing re- 
ligion. They attend services and go through the form 
of worship. They are sometimes very strongly devoted 
to their creed and greatly attached to the organization 
of which they are members ; but when you look for the 
power of godliness in their lives and the power to ren- 
der acceptable service to God, you do not find it. This 
make-believe religion will do very well sometimes, if it 
is not considered a matter of very much importance. 
It may sometimes ease the conscience for a time, but it 
will not bring us into a position where we can render 
acceptable service to God and where our own souls will 
be satisfied to their depths. People may manage to 
get along with such a religion in this world, but it will 
not stand the test of eternity. Of course, it will not 
stand the real test for this life. The soul who has the 
form without the power of religion can never have that 
satisfaction and peace that true religion gives. 

There are many people who go through the forms of 
religion and try to serve the Lord, but who never know 
whether their service is acceptable or not. I was once 
talking with a lady who had professed to be a Christian 
for many years and had prayed often. Speaking to me 
on the subject of prayer, she said, "I can not say that 
God has ever answered my prayers." Think of it! 

255 



256 Winning a Crown 

Twenty years of praying and never a prayer answered! 
Still, there are many who would have the same con- 
fession if they would open their hearts. Their religion 
has so little of reality in it that it seems almost nothing 
to them. It is natural for such Christians to testify 
that they "make many crooked paths for their feet" and 
that they "serve God in their weak way and manner." 
Such persons are not usually weak when it comes to 
serving self and the world. 

The religion of too many people is like that of a man 
whom I once knew. Two religious parties had been 
holding their regular services in the same house. At 
last a strife arose among them as to which should have 
complete control of the house. This man who was leader 
of one faction told me that when they came together 
one day for a final decision of the case, he took off his 
coat, threw it down upon the seat, and said, "You lie 
there and my religion with you till I whip out these 
people." Religion that can be put on with the Sunday 
clothes and taken off as easily never goes very deep 
into the heart or life. The service of such persons is 
always weak, because there is no heart in it. While 
they profess to worship God, their hearts are far from 
him. 

A certain religious professor went to work with a 
gang of men upon a public contract. He worked with 
them several weeks and then came home. A friend 
asked him, "How did you get along working with that 
gang of wicked men up there? What did they have to 
say about your religion ^" "Oh," replied the other, 



Acceptable Service 257 

"thej' didn't find out anything about it. I didn't tell 
them." It is just that way with many people. You 
would never find out anything about their religion if 
they did not tell you about it. There is no manifesta- 
tion of it in their lives or characters. It does not show 
out in their words nor deeds; in fact, you would never 
suspect they had any if you did not go to church and 
hear them testify. Sometimes people will rise in testi- 
mony-meetings and say, "I know that my Redeemer 
liveth." In this they often turn the truth into a lie, for 
they do not know that their Redeemer liveth, for they 
are not redeemed. They are the same old creatures 
that they have always been. They have no personal 
knowledge of God whatever, unless it be of his con- 
demnation resting upon them. Ezekiel speaks of this 
class of people and says of them, "They come unto thee 
as the people cometh, and they sit before thee as my 
people, and they hear thy words, but they will not do 
them: for with their mouth they show much love, but 
their heart goeth after their covetousness" (Ezek. 33. 
31). Isaiah, as quoted by Jesus, says of the same class, 
"This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, 
and honoreth me with their lips; but their heart is far 
from me" (Matt. 15:8). Of what religion they have 
Jesus says, "In vain do they worship me" (verse 9). 
Acceptable service to God can never be rendered 
with the lips alone. It must come from- the heart. It 
is the condition and attitude of the heart that counts 
most in everything. If our hearts are not in the service, 
then our service is vain. Service to God, to be accent- 



258 Winning a Crown 

able^ must be the most real of all things. It must be 
the great outstanding fact of life. God hates mere form. 
It is an insult to him. He knows whether we are in 
earnest or not^ whether our service is just form or means 
all to us. Modern ritualism is a curse to the world. A 
true Christian heart needs no such form. When we 
draw nigh to God with our hearts, the Spirit within us 
makes intercession for us with groanings which can not 
be uttered. It is from a heart thus in earnest that true 
worship and devotion comes. It is forth from such a 
heart that true service flows. 

Acceptable service can come only from a holy heart. 
God's standard for his worshipers is "that ye may be 
blameless and harmless, the sons of God" (Phil. 2: 15). 
Sinners can not do that which is pleasing in the sight of 
God. Repentance is the one thing upon which Gt)d cen- 
ters their attention. To repent is the first thing for 
them to do. God loves to receive the service of the 
holy. We may be weak and faltering, but our service 
is acceptable to God none the less if our hearts are right 
in his sight. As long as we are living in known dis- 
obedience to God, however, we might as well not try 
to serve him. That disobedience will stand between us 
and God as a barrier, and he can not count anything 
that we do, no matter what it is, as being a righteous 
thing. Our hearts must first be righteous before our 
lives can be so. 

Service, to be acceptable, must always be willing 
service. God forces no one to serve him. He lays 
down the principle that "if there be first a willing mind, 



Acceptable Service 259 

it is accepted according to that a man hath" (2 Cor. 
8: 12). Our service is not judged by our ability to do 
great tilings. A child can serve as acceptably as a man ; 
the ignorant as well as the learned. The soul who 
serves willingly, takes God's way gladly. He does not 
ask to choose for himself ; he only asks what will please 
the Lord, and, once knowing that, he gladly does it. 
Paul said of preaching the gospel that if he did it will- 
ingly he had a reward. It is only the willing service 
that has the reward. Willing service does have both a 
present and a future reward. Oh, for more willing 
workers who will not choose their own way or their 
own place or their own time, but who will give themselves 
into the hands of God and let his will be that which 
guides them from day to day, and thus find their pleas- 
ure in doing what is acceptable in his sight. God finds 
his pleasure in the willingness of the heart. 

To he acceptable, our service must be sincere. Sin- 
cerity is the foundation of Christian character. Hypoc- 
risy in anything is an abomination to the Lord. Deep 
sincerity and earnestness characterize every true Chris- 
tian. Without these there can be no true Christian char- 
acter and no Christian service. Many people are not 
sincere with themselves, with others, nor with God. They 
are not satisfied with their lives, and they know that 
Gt)d is not, and yet they go on professing to be what 
they ought to be. They try to appear outwardly what 
they really know they are not. They desire the world 
to believe them to be something that they know they 
are not in reality. The people around us who gaze 



260 Winning a Crown 

upon our lives, who listen to our words, and who see the 
play of emotions upon our faces know whether we are 
the true metal or not. God, who looks down from 
heaven and reads the very secrets of our hearts, knows 
also. God wants us to serve him with a true heart or 
make no pretense of serving him. 

It must be a reverent service. The Psalmist says, 
"Stand in awe, and sin not" (Psa. 4:4). Heb. 12:28 
says, "Let us have grace, whereby we m<ay serve God 
ax!ceptably with reverence and godly fear." When our 
souls sense the greatness of God, we are then filled with 
a feeling of reverence toward him, and it is only when 
we have this feeling of reverence that our service comes 
to have the quality of acceptable service. We can not 
treat the service of God with careless indifference and 
have this reverence for him. We must feel this before 
we can truly worship him — before our worship will have 
that quality of genuine adoration that makes it worth 
while. If his fear is upon our hearts, we shall be very 
careful about our conduct. The question will be, not 
"Does this please me.^" but "Will it please God.'*" 

It must he an unostentatious service. Service that 
springs from true love never desires to display itself. 
What it does is not done for the eyes of men to behold; 
it is done as a loving tribute to the object of its love. 
Christ drew a contrast between the kind of service that 
is acceptable and the kind that is not. In Matt. 6:1, 2, 
he says: "Take heed that ye do not your alms before 
men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward 
of your Father which is in heaven. Therefore when 



Acceptable Service 261 

thou doest tliinc alms, do not sound a trumpet before 
thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogs and in the 
streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say 
unto you. They have their reward." The principle here 
set forth is that what is done with the purpose of being 
seen of men brings only the reward that men give; in 
other words, it is not accepted by the Lord as service 
to him. Judged by this rule, much of the service of 
some so-called Christians is never, I fear, recognized 
in heaven at all. Our good deeds are to be done, not 
that men may see, but that God, who seeth in secret, 
may see, and reward according to his own will, and that 
he may regard them as service done to himself and not 
for the reward of men's praise. It is simple, single- 
hearted service that pleases the Lord. Paul tells us 
the kind of life and service that pleases God: "That 
we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness 
and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the 
sight of God our Savior" (1 Tim. 2:2, 3). 

We are told that a meek and quiet spirit is a thing 
of great price in the eyes of the Lord. Loud and 
boisterous conduct is not in harmony with the Spirit of 
Christ nor with true Christian character. Paul said, 
"Study to be quiet, and do your own business" (1 Thess. 
4: 11). There is a quiet dignity about the work of the 
Holy Spirit, and if we are dwelt in and operated by the 
Holy Spirit, there will be a quiet dignity in our lives 
that will count vastly miore than any self-assertiveness. 
It is not the showy bird that sings the sweet song. It 
is not the noisy and showy man that makes his mark 



262 Winning a Crown 

for God. The man who is truly godlike has no desire 
to put himself upon exhibition. He thinks, "Not I, but 
Christ/' and not only thinks it, but feels it in the depths 
of his heart. 

Another thing contained in the text quoted above is 
that we should not meddle in other people's business. 
We are commanded not to be busybodies (1 Tim. 5: 13). 
Speaking of certain religious persons, Paul says, "With- 
al they learn to be idle, wandering about from house 
to house; and not only idle, but tattlers also and busy- 
bodies, speaking things which they ought not." Such 
things are no mark of the Christian. It shows a serious 
defect of character. Unless we take heed to this, we 
can not be God's nor truly represent him before the 
world. If you are going to please the Lord, you must 
not be a tattler nor a busybody. Your religion must 
get into your talk as well as into your heart, and if it 
gets really into your heart, it will manifest itself through 
your tongue. 

Paul says also that we must be peaceable. We can 
not be peaceful without being peaceable. Inward con- 
tent comes only from a quiet and peaceable spirit, and, 
having such a spirit, we shall manifest it toward those 
around us. We are told that as far as lieth in us wc 
should live peaceably with all men. We are also told 
that we should be no brawlers. A Christian will not 
stir up strife in his community. We are told that God 
is not the author of confusion but of peace. It is not 
strange, therefore, that his Spirit in us should be sl 
peaceable Spirit and should make us peaceable to those 



Acceptable Service 263 

around us. The command is, "Live in peace/' and the 
promise is, "And the God of peace shall be with you" 
(Phil. 4:9). The strife and the contention sometimes 
seen among those who profess to be God's do not come 
from the Spirit of Christ, neither do they spring from 
a Christian character, but from an evil principle in the 
heart, from a lack of godliness instead of from the pres- 
ence of it. A true Christian spirit is one of kindliness, 
gentleness, meekness, forbearance, and mercy, mani- 
fested toward all. 

Service, to be acceptable, must be honest. Rugged 
honesty is a characteristic of true Christian character. 
We must be honest with ourselves, with God, and with 
others. We must be honest in our business and in all 
the details of our lives. The kind of honesty required 
does not admit of any questionable practises — no short 
weights or measures, no misrepresentations of goods or 
stock, no putting up of prices just to advertise cut 
prices. Christianity bears just as real fruit in business 
as it does in worship. The man who leaves his religion 
at home when he starts to business would hardly miss 
it if it was gone when he came back. The true Christian 
has a conscience toward God in his business. He speaks 
the truth; he is honest; he does that which he ought to 
do; he does not stoop to sharp practises; he does not 
take advantage of those with whom he has business 
dealings. He is a God-man in his business as well as in 
his profession. True Christianity knows nothing of the 
days of the week: it is just as good on Monday or on 
Friday as it is on Sunday. It will stand the test of the 



264 Winning a Crown 

store, the bank, the farm, and all of every-day life any 
time and anywhere. If the religion we have will not 
stand that test, it will not stand the test of the judgment. 

The sincerity of a true Christian is manifested in 
truthfulness. He speaks the truth in love. Sometimes 
people speak unpleasant truths in a malicious and vin- 
dictive way. As the Christian feels neither malice nor 
vindictiveness, he does not speak in that way. We are 
told that we must give an account of our words at the 
judgment-seat of God. We can not serve God with an 
untruthful tongue. We can not serve God by practising 
deceit. We are to commend ourselves to every man's 
conscience by manifestations of the truth (2 Cor, 4:2). 
The Bible is truth. God is truth ; there is no lie in 
him. If we partake of the nature of God and the Bible, 
we are truthful, and there are no lies in us; we do not 
speak lies nor act out lies. 

Another thing every Christian ought to learn is to be 
silent when he ought to be so. Silence often counts 
more than speech. Silence is golden, but it is the wise 
man who knows how to get this gold. 

The quality of our service is rated by the amount of 
love we put into it. It is not so much the acts that we 
do nor the consequences that flow from them, but the 
amount of love there is in the service. Love is what 
renders it acceptable to God; that is what makes it 
precious in his sight. It is the love of our hearts poured 
out to him in service that he counts worth while; there- 
fore the more we love him, the more acceptable and 
pleasing our service will be in his sight. If wc serve 



Acceptable Service 265 

him well, he will not let us be in ignorance of it. He 
will give us the testimony of a good conscience. Enoch 
had "this testimony, that he pleased God," and we also 
may have it if we do please him. God is not slow to 
recognize what we do for him when it is prompted by 
right motives and pure purposes. Let us, therefore, 
walk humbly before God and serve him in holiness and 
righteousness all the days of our life. 



Providences and Circumstances 

Life is often an enigma. It brings to us many things 
that we can not understand. How blessed it is at such 
times to realize that there is One wiser than we who 
has our lives in his care and who sees all and under- 
stands all! God is our father, and we are the children 
of his love. He has our welfare at heart. He is in- 
terested in all that concerns us. He watches over all 
our lives, and nothing that comes can come without his 
knowledge. Whatever comes, he knows full well its 
effect upon us, and his loving hand is ever ready to pro- 
tect and help his children. He could, if he chose, lead 
us in a pleasant and easy path through life, but he 
knows that a pleasant and easy path would not develop 
in us that strong and hardy Christian character so es- 
sential for us. Neither would it give him an oppor- 
tunity to reveal the riches of his grace or his tender 
care. He knows that we must taste the bitter before 
we can appreciate the sweet. He knows that we must 
feel life's sorrows before we can value its joys. Suffer- 
ing more than anything else develops us in the things of 
God. He will presently take us to be forever with him 
in his heaven of peace and glory, and he wants us to be 
able to enjoy it to the fullest; so he would in this life 
develop as fully as he may our possibilities. It is for 
this purpose that he sometimes leads us by ways that 
we know not and lets his providences be dark and 
mysterious ; but throughout our lives, if we are his, "all 
things work together for good" (Rom. 8:28). Many 

266 



Providences and Circumstances 267 

times, if we knew what was coming, the joy that it 
would bring M'ould be lessened. He delights to surprize 
us, many times because by a surpri?:e he increases our 
)oy and appreciation. When difficulties arise through 
which we can see no way and he makes a way of which 
we had never thought — it is then that our hearts are 
made to wonder at his wisdom and are melted with 
gratitude. 

His ways are not our ways. They are higher and 
better than our ways. If we were wise enough, we 
should always choose for ourselves that which he 
chooses for us. Alas ! how often when we choose for 
ourselves, we choose that which is least wise ! We must 
often deny ourselves. Sometimes it is hard to give up 
what we have chosen, as it seems desirable and exactly 
what we need. But God often denies us the seeming 
good that a greater good may come. If we submit 
and trust, that greater good will surely come; but if 
we rebel and clamor for what we have chosen, God 
may be compelled to hold back that greater good, and 
if we have our way, it may in the end prove to be a 
bitter way. What God gives is ever the best that we 
are willing to receive. We should often have better 
if we would trust God's wisdom and take gladly what 
he gives. Whenever we choose for ourselves and limit 
(Unl to th :t which we have chosen, we deny ourselves 
of the better choice of his wisdom. The trouble so often 
is that we fail to trust him. We know that if he chooses 
he will choose well for us, but perhaps he may forget 
us. May not the thing that comes escape his notice, or 



268 Winning a Crown 

may he not grow careless ? Sometimes we can not feel 
that what is coming is his choice for us. We fear and 
tremble and wonder. We try to escape it, but still it 
comes, and in the future days we often look back upon 
this very thing as one of God's greater blessings to us 
because of what it wrought for us and in us. 

God sometimes places a wall before us that we may 
stop and consider. We may come face to face with this 
obstacle across our path. We see no way by which we 
can surmount it; we see no way to go around it. Some- 
times it fills us with foreboding. We question, ''What 
will be the result.^ What shall we do?" Sometimes 
we grow very much troubled over it, but it is through 
this very thing that God can get us to do the serious 
thinking that he desires us to do and that it is neces- 
sary for us to do. He does not put a wall before u^ 
just to hinder our progress. He has some other pur- 
pose in it always, and when he has worked out that 
purpose, be will either take the wall out of the way, 
show us a way to surmount it, or lift us completely over 
it and set our feet again triumphant in the way. 

He sometimes places a mountain of difficulty before 
us that we may climb to higher altitudes and that in 
the climbing we may develop spiritual strength. A 
rugged mountain before us may be hard to climb. Its 
difficulties may discourage us; but if we will gather up 
our courage and surmount it, no matter what effort may 
be necessary, we shall find that we have realized true 
benefits. We now stand on a higher altitude with a 
broader outlook, and instead of our being weakened by 



Promdences and Circumstances 269 

these difficulties, thej'^ have been the very source of our 
strength. Every difficulty that we conquer by placing 
it under our feet raises us higher in the Christian life. 
This is the purpose of these difficulties. God is not 
desirous that we have the difficulty, but he must let us 
have the difficulty if he is to raise us to the higher alti- 
tude, and he desires us to have the higher position. He 
never lets the waj' be too steep before us. He never 
lets the difficulties be too great. He knows that we 
can surmount them if we will. H he did not know this, 
he would not let them be placed in our way. 

He sometimes sends sorrow to soften us and make us 
hungry for his comfort. We may become too satisfied 
with earthly things. We may draw too much of our 
joy from them. He delights to have us draw our joy 
and our comfort from him; therefore he must take away 
from- us the toys which have been occupying our time, 
that our souls may yearn for the comfort and blessed- 
ness that only he can give. He knows that nothing soft- 
ens us like sorrow. So he gives to us the cup of sorrow 
to drink to the dregs, and oh, what tenderness and bless- 
edness come into our lives when we drink submissively 
of that cup, no matter how bitter it may be to our taste ! 
He sometimes takes away the staff upon which we lean, 
that we may learn to lean upon him. He sometimes 
takes away that in which we trust, that we may learn 
the better to trust in him. He may sometimes take 
away our strength, that he may be our strength and 
that his strength may be made perfect in our weakness. 
He sometimes takes away our company that we ma}' 



270 Winning a Crown 

desire his company the more. All these happenings may 
seem dark and mysterious to us ; they may seem' the 
very things that are the worst for us, but they are not. 
They are but the manifestations of his kindly wisdom 
and his fatherly tenderness. Sometimes behind a frown- 
ing providence he hides a smiling face. We often see 
only the frown of the providence, and that frown looks 
very threatening; but if we will look away from that 
frowning providence to the smiling face of God, we shall 
see that which will uplift us and strengthen us and en- 
able us to bear whatever stroke of providence may come. 
O soul, trust him. He knows the way that you take. 
He knows the things that are in your soul and he knows 
just what is needful for you. So bear with patience 
and endure with meekness and do not question his wis- 
dom or love. It will all come out for the very best in 
the end. Here is a little verse that speaks out a great 
truth : 

"With patient mind thy course of duty run; 
God nothing does or suffers to be done 
But thou wouldst do thyself if thou couldst see 
The end of all events as well as he. " 

You will do well to memorize these lines and when 
things happen that you can not understand, repeat them 
over to yourself until their truth enters your heart and 
becomes real to you. It will help you to trust; it will 
help you to bear; it will help you to be strong. Learn 
to look at things just that way, for such they are in 
reality. If you will count them so, it will often help you. 



Providences and Circumstances 271 

It will make the hard places easy; it will make the tire- 
some places less tiresome. 

But many things that come in life are not of God's 
sending. They are the result of natural happenings, 
and God would have to work a miracle to prevent their 
coming. Christians are under natural law the same as 
sinners. The natural forces, therefore, will work upon 
us the same as upon others. Many things that come 
upon us are the portion of all men and are incident to 
our life in the body of flesh. As long as we are in the 
flesh, natural forces will work upon us according to 
natural law. God often chooses to help us bear these 
things rather than to change them. He can and some- 
times does overrule these natural forces in their action, 
but not ordinarily. 

When you are tried, you should think, "Should I not 
have these same things to bear if I were not a Christian ? 
and should I not have to bear them without the grace 
of God to help me?" Sinners have to endure trials 
through their own resolution. You and I have that same 
natural power, with the grace of God added; therefore 
we ought to bear trials easier than sinners. Too many 
people are looking for an easy way, and when they find 
a little hardship somewhere, something that requires a 
little endurance, they are ready to look for some other 
way. Some people think that Christians ought not to 
have these things to bear, but God sees otherwise. These 
things will come and must come. Giving up our hold 
on God will make it harder instead of easier for us to 
bear them. We shall not get rid of them. We shall 



272 Winning a Crown 

have to pass through them, no matter what we do; so 
we might as well bravely face them and trust God to 
take us through. 

In wars and other calamities, the innocent suffer with 
the guilty. Some people blame God for all calamities. 
If lightning strikes a church or the wind destroys the 
home of a poor Christian, they blame God. If there 
is an earthquake or a flood, the blame is placed the 
same. These things are very rarely providential in their 
nature. They come through natural forces. God has 
not promised to make us immune from' the action of 
these natural forces nor from the action of evil men. 
He warns us not to trust in riches nor to rely on the 
things of earth, but upon those higher things that can 
not be stolen nor burned nor destroyed. 

Sometimes it is said that God takes away our loved 
ones. It may be thus sometimes, but, as a rule, death 
comes as a result of natural causes. God has no certain 
time for people to die. The day of death is not decreed. 
We die when the natural forces of life are overcome by 
disease or accident or some other cause so that the body 
can no longer function. Moses makes it plain in the 
nintieth psalm when he says: "The days of our years 
are three score years and ten; and if by reason of 
strength they be four score, yet is their strength labor 
and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away" 
(verse 10). Here he attributes the extra years, not to 
something decreed by God, but to the result of natural 
strength. We die only when our vitality is destroyed 
or our natural forces used up. Christians have no pre- 



Providences and Circumstances 27S 

eminence over others in this respect, except that God is 
often pleased to restore their natural forces through his 
healing power and so prolongs their lives beyond what 
they would have been prolonged otherwise. If our loved 
ones die, we should never charge God with injustice; 
instead we should turn to him for help and comfort. 
Some grow bitter instead of being softened and ennobled 
by their sorrow. If God ever does by his own act take 
a loved one, it is because it is better so. 

If we look upon everything as God's providence, we 
shall often blame him for things with which he has 
nothing to do. We ought to discriminate between nat- 
ural happenings and those things which are really the 
work of God. Sometimes we can not distinguish; we 
can not always be sure; but if we trust God, he will 
cause all things to work together for our good, whether 
by his own direct acts through his providence, or by 
keeping us in those natural things that we meet. The 
thing to do is to meet courageously whatever comes. 
It is safe to rely upon his wisdom, and his love will 
never fail us. 



Remaking Ourselves 

By inheritance, by the influence of environment, and 
by the effect of our own habits, we are weak, unde- 
veloped, or abnormal in many of the human traits and 
faculties which grace either leaves untouched or only 
partly affects and which we need to set ourselves about 
correcting, improving, or developing. In many things 
we are the product of our own efforts. Grace does much, 
but grace can never take the place of our own efforts in 
self-development. Sin often weakens the will until it 
loses its original power of control over desire. When 
we let desire become master, we destroy the balance of 
our forces. The will miust rule over desire if we are 
to be righteous ; so if the will is weak, we need to set 
about the task of strengthening it. To do this we must 
lay out for ourselves a definite course of action, and 
then, knowing what we ought to do, not let ourselves 
be turned away from that, no matter what natural desire 
may suggest. Form the habit of carrying out what you 
start to do in spite of obstacles, in spite of fluctuation 
of desire and the inclination to stop instead of going 
forward. Carry out your purposes. Never be hasty 
in deciding to do a thing; but when you have once de- 
cided, carry out that decision fully unless you discover 
some good reason why you should not do so. If you 
begin things and do not finish them, but grow weary 
and let them go or let yourself be turned aside to some- 
thing else, you weaken your will each time. It is bet- 
ter to complete a few things than to begin many and 

274 



Remaking Ounelves 275 

finish none. One thing carried resolutely through 
strengthens you and makes success easier next time. 
By this means a weak will can often be greatly strength- 
ened in a short time. A\%en you say no, stick to it 
unless you see you are wrong. Do not let your refusal 
become a yielding later. If you ought to say no at the 
first, it ought to be no to the end. If one no to tempta- 
tion is not enough, say it again and again. Either you 
or temptation must lose. You have the power to make 
your first no a final no if you hold your ground. 

We may have cultivated self-will until submission to 
any other will is hard. We love our own way. We find 
it hard to submit to God, to our brethren, or to cir- 
cumstances. To be successful Christians we must con- 
quer this self-will. We roust compel ourselves to yield 
against our natural inclinations until we form the habit 
of submission to the extent that we should submit. Some 
never conquer themselves sufficiently to yield grace- 
fully, nor to yield at all until circumstances force them 
to do so. They lose many of the sweetest things of life 
because of this self-will. They often feel that their 
rights are being trespassed on; in fact, whenever you 
find a person who is always standing up for his rights, 
you find one of those self-willed individuals. Such per- 
sons never progress very deeply into the grace of God, 
since they are never willing to make the surrender 
necessary to give God the chance to make them spir- 
itual. Conquer your self-will; cultivate submissiveness. 
It is the only way to true happiness. 

Another thing that we need to cultivate is courage. 



276 ' ; Winning a Crown 

The world hates a coward, and the devil too, I think, 
has little respect for him. The man who would be a 
successfnl Christian needs courage. Life is a battle, 
and it takes courage to win it. You can be brave just 
as well as any one else. Start in to face your foes just 
as if you were brave, no matter how little courage you 
have nor how much you tremble. If you act as if you 
M^ere brave, it will produce the same results upon your 
foe as if you were brave; and if you act bravely, you 
will soon come to feel brave. If for a time you act 
more bravely than you feel, that action will win, and 
the victory won will produce confidence, which is the 
foundation of courage. You will either cultivate cour- 
age by meeting your foes and obstacles and overcoming 
them, or you will increase your fears by yielding to 
them. Remember this: you may be courageous if you 
will. You may become fearless if you will, no matter 
how timid you are now. Set yourself the task of being 
a bold soldier for Christ. You may be such if you will. 
Some have cultivated gloominess and despondency in 
their sinful days by looking on the dark side of things 
until they are discouraged most of the time. If you 
have formed this habit, set about breaking yourself of 
it. There is just as much sunshine in the world for you 
as for any one else if you will come out of your cavern 
of gloom. Cultivate hope. God is on your side. Read 
his promises and believe they are for you and begin to 
act in conformity with your faith. So many people are 
always looking at their trials and their failures, and 
consequently they see but little else in their lives. This 



Remaking Ourselves 



077 



is always discouraging, xi you want to see something 
worth while, look at "the pit from whence you were 
digged." I-ook at the things in which you are different 
from what you used to be. "Behold what God hath 
wrought." Make yourself look away from the dark pic- 
ture. There is something better than this to look at. 
Form the habit of right thinking, overcome your mor- 
bidness. God wills that you be happy, and there are 
enough good things around you to make you happy if 
you will give them your attention. 

Wherever you find yourself weak or undeveloped, set 
yourself the task of making yourself what you ought 
to be. God will help you, but he can not accomplish the 
desired result alone. You must do your part. Grace 
has its part, but only a part. Train your own faculties, 
develop your own powers. Do not be content to be a 
weakling. Be a real man for God. Do not be satis- 
fied to be less than your best. Do not fold your arms 
and lament because you are what you are. This will 
not make things better. Get into the harness and go 
to work. Many people never develop their resources. 
Their lives might count twenty-fold more if they would 
have it so. You can make of yourself more than you 
have ever hoped to be if you will set resolutely about the 
task in an intelligent way. Be your very best if it does 
cost earnest effort. You will not regret the effort when 
you see the results. 



Faith 

In preceding chapters we have considered the sub- 
ject of faith so far as it relates to the receiving of 
God's cleansing work in the soul; it remains now to 
consider the general subject as it relates to the Chris- 
tian life. The word is often applied to a system ©f 
belief or teaching, as "the faith of the gospel." This 
use of the word calls for no notice here. Faith in this 
work means the faculty of the human soul by which 
we lay hold upon God and are brought into intimate 
contact with him, and through which we receive things 
from him. All have the power to believe. Evangelical 
faith is believing 'that God is and that he is a rewarder 
of them that diligently seek him' (Heb. 11:6). It is 
believing that God is what the Bible says he is and that 
he will do what the Bible says he will do. It is a 
confident and implicit relying upon him. It is count- 
ing him true and his word true, and putting that con- 
fidence into action in our lives. 

In Gal. 5 : 22 faith is said to be one of the fruits of 
the Spirit. We have a natural faculty of faith, or the 
power to believe, and the Spirit of God, working upon 
this natural power, quickens our faith and turns it into 
channels that lead Godward, and thus God becomes the 
object of our faith. Faith being a fruit of the Spirit, 
it naturally follows that the more spiritual we become 
the stronger will be our faith and the more effective it 
will be in its action. Like other natural qualities, it 
is more highly developed in some persons than in others, 

278 



Faith 27V) 

but there are none but can have faith in God sufficient 
for their own salvation and sufficient to enable tlicm to 
live a godly and true life. Faith is also capable of 
great development. As we advance from one experi- 
ence to another in the Christian life and see how God 
has blessed us and led us on and helped us, that increases 
our faith, adding to it from day to day. It is God's will 
that every one of his children have sufficient faith to 
make them overcomers in this world, so that they may 
live a life to please God in all things. 

Qualities of Faith 

Faith is not as blind Credulity. Faith has keen eye*, 
and she looks forth with unfaltering gaze. She kncTTS 
full well that she need not close her eyes to any fact. 
She knows that the whole realm of truth is hers. She 
gazes at all the facts in the quiver of Reason and fears 
none of them. She sees in and beyond these truths a 
mighty God, the object of her confidence. Credulity 
fears truth, but Faith rejoices in it, for in every truth 
she sees the revelation of her Beloved. Her eyes are 
quickened by love, so that she sees where other eyes 
can not see. She sees the unseen and beholds the in- 
visible. Her vision pierces the dark and threatening 
clouds of earthly circumstances and beholds God still 
upon his throne and still her helper. 

Faith is courageous. She does not triumph because 
her enemies are weak, but because she is strong, and 
difficulties only make her stronger. She faces her foes 
with confidence, for she knows Him in whom she trusts. 



280 Winning a Crown 

She is bold with the boldness that comes from strength, 
for she knows that she has access to all the strength 
of God. Why should she be timid or shrinking? is not 
her God greater than all? is he not with her? She is 
hopeful even in the darkest hour. She can always see 
something in which to rejoice. Dark skies do not appall 
her. The keen winds of persecution and the beating 
waves of trouble can not silence her song of rejoicing. 
She knows in whom she trusts. She knows that the 
end will be victory, and so she goes upon her way con- 
fident, courageous, and hopeful. 

The Foundation of Faitli 

Paul told the Corinthians that his preaching to them 
was not with 'enticing words of man's wisdom, but in 
the demonstration of the Spirit and of power; that their 
faith should not stand in the wisdom of men but in the 
power of God' (1 Cor. 2:4). Faith has a more sure 
foundation than the wisdom of man. It is based upon 
the character and promises of God. When we come to 
know the character of God, through the revelation of 
himself in the Bible and through what we learn of him 
by our own experience, it aifords us a certain founda- 
tion for faith. We learn his truthfulness; therefore we 
know his promises are true. We learn of his faithful- 
ness; therefore we know that his promises will be ful- 
filled. We learn of his kindness, and we know that he 
will be kind to us. We learn of his love, and we know 
that he will manifest that love to us in helping us. God 
has spoken many gracious promises to us. He can not 



Faith 281 

lie. These promises were made to be fulfilled and not 
to be broken. They are "yea and amen" to every one 
that believes. God never tries to find a way to excuse 
himself in not fulfilling his promises. He never desires 
not to fulfil them. He does not have to be forced to 
fulfil them. He has never made to us a single promise 
that it is not his delight to carry out for us. He stands 
behind them all to make them good, not simply because 
his faithfulness and truthfulness are at stake, but be- 
cause what he has promised is the natural fruitage of 
his love toward us. 

In these things faith has a foundation that can never 
fail her. Upon it she can confidently stand. This is 
the only sure foundation that she can have. Any other 
will give way beneath her feet. God's character will 
never change, and so his promises will never fail. If 
you would have faith, look at the promises of God and 
then look behind the promises at God himself. Look at 
his character. Contemplate its beauty and strength un- 
til your heart becomes enraptured. Behold his perfec- 
tion until your heart is warmed with adoration. Many 
are weak indeed because they do not really know God. 
They have never really studied his character. They 
are unaware of his perfection. They are unaware of his 
interest in them. They do not know the strength and 
richness of his love. They might know these things 
if they would read of him in the Bible as they ought 
and if they would spend the proper time in meditating 
over what they read. Reader, if you have never given 
sufficient time to the study of the character of God, you 



282 Winning a Crown 

ought to take that time now. You can spend profitably 
many days and months therein. Do not be afraid that 
you will exhaust the subject, for God is infinite. Too 
many Christians never become acquainted with God 
further than to be on just common speaking terms with 
him. They never attain to that intimate knowledge of 
him, that intimate relation with him, that it is their 
privilege to enjoy. The more perfectly we know him 
and the closer we come to him, the more certain we shall 
feel that our faith stands upon a solid foundation, one 
that will never yield under any circumstances. 

Based on anything else than the character and prom- 
ises of God, faith must ever be weak and wavering. 
Some base their faith on their experience. As long 
as they have full confidence in their experience, they 
think that they can ask God for things and obtain them 
because of what they are. It is very good to have con- 
fidence in our experience, but to base our confidence and 
our faith on our experience is a very unwise thing. If 
we do this, anything that makes us doubt our experience 
in any degree will hinder our faith just when an active, 
vigorous faith is needful. Many times people base their 
faith upon their emotions. If our feelings are the 
foundation for our faith, we shall apparently be very 
strong in faith when we are joyful; but when emotions 
subside, our faith is gone. Faith must have a sub- 
stantial grounding, or it will fail just when most needed. 
To stand, it must be based upon things that are im- 
mutable. If we anchor our boat to a floating log, we 
shall drift with its motions. Our emotions rise and fall 



Faith 283 

as the tide. If we make them the basis for faith, we 
shall never be able to stand. 

Emotion is often a false witness, while faith's \f1t- 
ness is always true. Emotion says that we are strong 
when we are joyful, and weak when we are in heaviness. 
Its witness is not true. Our real strength is practically 
the same in both instances, only we are more encouraged 
and inclined to use our strength when emotions run high. 
Joyful emotions stimulate faith, hope, and courage, and 
render them active; while opposite emotions depress 
and hinder them. The operation of faith is normal 
and undisturbed only when emotion is neutral or when it 
is fully separated in action from faith, and our faith in 
no¥dse depends upon it. Just as long as we base our 
faith upon our feelings, it will rise and fall as our 
feelings do. We shall be now strong, now weak; now 
certain, now uncertain; now confident, now fearful. Get 
your faith and your feelings separated. It is only by 
so doing that your faith will hold fast in the times 
when you need it. 

When your emotions run high, you have need of lit- 
tle faith, for the strength of your emotions will carry 
you through; but when emotion subsides and you are 
left without the stimulus that it gives, it is then that 
you need faith, and it is then that you must have it in 
order to keep from being tossed about. Right here is 
the difficulty with a multitude of Christians. Their faith 
is based upon their emotions, not upon the Word of God ; 
therefore so long as they feel all right, their faith is 
steady, but as soon as their feelings subside or as soon 



284 Winning a Crown 

as bad feelings begin to come, their faith wavers and 
shrinks, and they are ready to give up in despair. This 
is child's play, and you will never be more than a 
child in faith so long as you base your faith upon your 
emotions. God wants you to be man-sized and man- 
strong. He does not want you to be the creature of 
your emotions. He wants you to stand by faith, by a 
faith anchored to his immutable promises. When faith 
is so anchored, waves of feeling may rise and fall, the 
wind may blow this way or that, but the man stands 
firm. He is saved whether he feels good or feels bad, 
whether he is joyful or sorrowful, whether his heart is 
overflowing with thankfulness or his emotions are per- 
fectly neutral. Faith must be based on something out- 
side ourselves if it shall ever have a healthy growth 
and strong development. 

Some people base their faith largely upon what other 
people think of them. They can feel that they are 
saved so long as certain ones seem to have confidence 
in them and are manifesting that confidence at every 
opportunity. It is all right to appreciate the confidence 
of our brethren and the manifestation of that confidence, 
but we should not base our hopes of heaven and our 
confidence in ourselves on such manifestations of ap- 
proval. We must stand for ourselves. We must know 
ourselves and our own relations with God; we must not 
depend upon others to know for us. Get close enough 
to God so that nobody else can know your state as well 
as you yourself. Let no one be intermediate between 
you and God. He has promised that you should know 



Faith 285 

him for yourself and that you should know yourself 
and your standing before him. Seek this close rela- 
tion with God. The door is wide open; you may enter 
into it if you will. God will see that you find the way 
if you really try. When once your faith is anchored on 
the solid foundation that he furnishes for you, the ac- 
cusation of men and devils will not affright you nor 
make you give up your confidence in God. 

The Effect of Faith 

Paul says, "Let us draw near Avith a true heart in 
full assurance of faith" (Heb. 10: 22). There are those 
who tell us that we can never know that we are saved, 
or in fact ever be very sure of anything in regard to our 
relations with God. Nothing could be more contrary 
to the teachings of the Scriptures. Faith brings knowl- 
edge. There is never a completed action by faith but 
there is an assurance that follows that action. It is 
the natural fruit of that action. Faith works with 
assurance. He who has faith draws nigh to God with 
expectation. He knows that God is true and that His 
promise is for him. He lays hold upon the promise 
because the promise belongs to him and because God 
is pleased to have him claim his rights in the promise. 
When he takes hold upon the promise, he is sure of the 
result. Sometimes people speak of "taking things by 
faith" when they rather mean claiming them without 
faith, for it is evident that they do not have the faith 
they are claiming. The only way to obtain a thing 
from God is through faith, speaking of those things which 



286 Winning a Crown 

come to us through prayer. So whatever of this nature 
we get from him, we must take by faith, but when we 
take it by faith, we have it. When faith once gets her 
hands on a thing, it is hers, but it is not hers until she has 
hold upon it, and when she has gotten hold of it, she has 
the consciousness of having it in her grasp, the same as 
we have the consciousness of having in our hands that 
which we have grasped. 

Doubts may come from various sources. One source 
is a lack of knowledge of God's will. As long as we hold 
in question whether it is God's will to do a thing for us, 
our faith can not be active and strong in its grasp. There 
will be an uncertainty about it all. We need to get this 
question of God's will settled first. Sometimes this is 
very hard for us to decide, but of one thing we may al- 
ways be sure — that it is God's will to give us what we 
need and what we must have in order to serve him suc- 
cessfully. God is willing to give. He does not have to 
be forced to give because he has promised. He does 
not have to be coaxed to give it nor wheedled into 
granting our request. He stands ready to fulfil his 
promises. Ordinarily, therefore, when a need is pre- 
sented to us^ we can take it for granted that it is God's 
will to supply that need, though he must choose the 
way in which he will supply it. 

Doubts often come because we feel unworthy. We 
need something, and we desire it very much. We do 
not doubt that God would give it if we were more worthy 
to receive it. We could readily believe that he would 
give it to somebody else, but will he give it to us.'' If 



Faith 287 

what we receive depended upon our worthiness to re- 
ceive, we should certainly never receive very much from 
God, but it does not depend upon our worthiness. It 
depends upon his graciousness and upon his mercy and 
upon his kindness and upon his love. If we must wait 
until we are worthy of his blessings, we shall never 
receive them. It is often true that the most worthy 
Christians, or those who are most godlike in their lives, 
arc the very ones who feel most unworthy. This is so 
because they understand better and see more clearly 
the perfections of God. There are, of course, those 
whose lives are unworthy before God and who for that 
reason can not have faith to receive, because their con- 
sciences trouble them. These must needs get a clear 
conscience before faith will take hold for other things. 
But those true Christians who seek things of God never 
have a strong feeling of their worthiness. It is true 
that they can often say, like Hezekiah, that they have 
lived perfect before the Lord up to all their under- 
standing; but notwithstanding that, there is a sense 
of unworthiness before God, so that they do not base 
their faith upon their worthiness but upon the great 
loving-kindness of God. 

In order for us to have the assurance of faith, the 
promises must come to mean us and mean us now. In 
approaching God for something, you ought to come to 
him as though you were the only person in the world 
and that the promise was especially made for you. 
You should treat the promise just as though nobody else 
had a share in it. The promises that cover your needs 



288 Winning a Crown 

Art to you. They are to you and for you just as much 
as though God had spoken them directly to you person- 
ally and had included no one else. Look upon them in 
this way. Treat them this way, always bearing in mind 
that he must choose his manner of fulfilling them. 

Assurance is not emotion. You may be sure that you 
own a farm. You may have a deed for it, properly re- 
corded. There may be no claims of any sort against 
the farm. But though you know all these facts, such 
knowledge may not excite any emotion at all in you. 
You may be ever so sure of it, not question it in the 
least, and at the same time be perfectly unemotional 
about it. The same is true many times with the Chris- 
tian experience. We may be perfectly sure about it and 
yet not be ablr to tell a thing about it from our emo- 
tions. The promises of God are true whether they 
excite in us any emotion or not. He has said, "I will 
never leave thee nor forsake thee" (Heb. 13:5). This 
is true, no matter how lonely or deserted we feel, so 
long as we trust. Your part is to trust and obey. The 
rest belongs to God. Be concerned about doing your 
part, but throw all the responsibility for his part upon 
him. Do not try to bear one bit of it yourself. Never 
try to help God. He is able to do his own part. Never 
worry and strain yourself trying to have faith. Just 
be easy and comfortable about things. When the re- 
sponsibility of anything is thrown upon God, he will 
not shrink from that responsibility, neither will he fail 
to bear it properly. 

A little incident from my own experience may help 



Faith 289 

the reader to understand what I mean. I was once 
traveling in the evangelistic work with two helpers. Wc 
had arranged to go on Monday morning to a certain 
town some distance away to begin a meeting. We did 
not have the money to pay our railroad fare. On Sat- 
urday we made our arrangements to go and prayed the 
Lord to furnish the means which we needed. On Sun- 
day morning we went to meeting and had a glorious 
service. I forgot all about money. On Saturday I 
had taken it for granted that the Lord would supply our 
needs at that meeting, but on the way home from the 
meeting, something seemed to say to me, "Where is 
your money.'*" and I suddenly remembered that I had 
received nothing at all. I had asked the Lord for it 
and had expected it to come, but it had not come as 
I had expected. For a moment I did not know what 
to say. Then I answered: "Well, Lord, you will have 
to look after that. We are going to do our part." Wc 
went on a number of miles to stay all night and found 
that a meeting had been arranged for at that place; so 
I took it for granted that our needs would be supplied 
here. We had another very precious meeting, but it 
closed and the people went home. I was detained a lit- 
tle, but presently started for my stopping-place through 
the darkness. A voice seemed to say to me, "Where is 
your money .^" Here it was late at night, and we were 
to start early the next morning. But my confidence 
was in God, and I threw the responsibility on him, say- 
ing: "That is your business, Lord. We are doing our 
part, and we expect you to do yours." I went on my 



290 Winning a Crown 

way not concerned over the matter, when shortly I heard 
a voice calling after me. I ansvrered, and a man came 
running and put something into my hand. When I 
reached my lodging-place, I fomid that it was a bill 
sufficient to pay all the expenses of our trip. 

Do your part, be sure you have done it, and then 
you can throw the responsibility upon God. You need 
not worry, you need not fear. He will not fail you. 
Cast all your cares upon him, for he careth for you. 
Do not think that God will not attend to his business. 
Does he let the planets get out of their orbits? Does 
he let the sun cease to shine? Does he fail to bring 
spring after the winter? Does he fail to give seed-time 
and harvest? Be not fearful, but believing. He has 
said that heaven and earth should pass away, but that 
his word should never pass away; that is, it is the most 
certain thing in existence. Plant your feet firmly on 
the promise. Count it yours. Rejoice in it. 

The Relatioii of Works to Faith 

All Catholics and most Protestants trust in their 
good works more than in God for salvation. This may 
seem a strong statement, but many years of experience 
in dealing with souls have brought me to that conclusion. 
No matter how much the efficacy of faith is preached, 
when it comes to the matter of practical Christian liv- 
ing, most people trust more or less in their works to 
make them acceptable before God. They try to do 
something to merit salvation, and after they are saved 
they try to do something to merit God's approval. The 



Faith '2€rl 

ineffectiveness of such efforts is made very plain by 
Paul. He says^ "For by grace are ye saved through 
faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 
not of works, lest any man should boast" (Eph. 2: 8, 9). 
There is absolutely no saving merit in works. Salva- 
tion is a gift from God. Anything that is purchased 
is not a gift. Anything that is ours by right can not 
be a gift to us. Salvation is called the "free gift." It 
can never, therefore, in any degree rest on our good 
works. Evil works cut us off from God and grace, and 
so God requires us to shut evil works out of our lives, 
but simply shutting these evil works out of our lives does 
not win for us salvation. 

"I do right, therefore I am right," is the usual form- 
ula. This makes works precede faith, and makes faith 
dependent on works. Those who base their standing 
before God on their good works instead of upon his 
grace, must continually question themselves whether 
their good works are sufficiently good to recommend 
them to God. If we could be saved in that manner, we 
would be saved by faith in ourselves, and not by faith 
in God. The true formula is, "I am right, therefore I 
do right." Acts get their quality from intent, and intent 
comes from the state of the heart. There can be no 
evil intent in a righteous heart, and hence no evil act 
in the life. If the fountain is clean, so is the stream; 
but if the fountain is unclean, nothing that we can do to 
the stream will cleanse the fountain. In Gal. 5 : 6 we 
read of "faith which worketh by love." Faith is there- 
fore a motive power; and if there is true faith abiding 



292 Wmning a Crown 

in us, it will work out in deeds of love and kindness, 
of merc}^ holiness, and truth. 

We should remember, however, that it is not these 
deeds that make the faith nor preserve it, but it is the 
faith that makes the deed. James makes works the 
evidence of faith; that is, faith is the tree and works 
arc the fruit. It is quite true that the fruit is of the 
same character as the tree, but the fruit upon a good 
tree is often marred by insects or drouth or damaged 
by the weather. The fact that damaged or imperfect 
fruit is taken from a tree does not prove that the tree 
is not all right. It may only prove that circumstances 
prevented the proper development of the fruit. So the 
fruit of our faith may not always be perfect. We may 
now and then come short of our expectations. There 
may be things in our lives that we should like to see 
better. We may be prevented by circumstances from 
reaching the full development of our lives and fruits 
as we should like to have them developed. But never- 
theless if we are God's, the true life-power is working 
in us. Judging ourselves solely by the fruit that we 
bear under unfavorable circumstances is no more fair 
than judging the tree by the imperfect fruit that may 
grow upon it. I am not arguing in favor of wrong- 
doing. By no means. If God is in us, our lives will 
be pure and our deeds will be pure. The point that I 
wish to emphasize here is that our faith should be in 
God and not in our works. He who trusts in his works 
may have righteousness, but it is wholly a self-righteous- 
ness; but he who trusts in the righteousness of Christ 



Faith 293 

imparted to him by the Holy Spirit has the righteous- 
ness of God, which is the "righteousness of faith." We 
are righteous because God makes us righteous. We re- 
main righteous because he keeps us righteous. Oh, 
that men would trust him to be their righteousness in- 
stead of going about to establish their own righteousness ! 



Faith — Continued 

Living by Faith 

"The just shall live by faith" (Rom. 3:17). The 
Christian graces flourish only in the soil of faith. Under 
the influence of doubt they droop and die. As already 
stated, we should never try to trust in works in order to 
maintain our righteousness. "We walk by faith, not by 
sight" (2 Cor. 5:7). That inward, conscious, satisfy- 
ing knowledge of being right with God can come only 
by faith. Some people are always questioning their ex- 
periences. They remind me of a man hiring out to work 
for another man through harvest. All goes well the 
first day, but the second morning when he rises he feels 
tired and sore from the work and probably does not 
feel at all inclined to begin another day's labor. So he 
walks off to the field and sits down upon a stump while 
the rest of the laborers go to work. Presently one comes 
up to him and says, "What is the matter, John?" He 
looks gloomy and says: "Oh, I don't feel well this 
morning. I think I've lost my job." He is finally 
convinced that he has not lost his job, and is persuaded 
to go to work, and he gets along pretty well during 
the day. The next morning it is cloudy, and he walks 
out to the field again and sits down. Again he is 
asked what is the matter, and his reply is: "Oh, it's so 
cloudy and threatening this morning. I think I have 
lost my job." What do you suppose his employer would 
say? Would it be, "I am sorry for you; I think you 

294 



Faith — Continued 295 

had better go home"? No, it would be, "Get busy there. 
We need your help." 

Some Christians are all the time troubling themselves 
about having lost their job of serving the Lord. When- 
ever things are not just as favorable as such Christians 
think they ought to be, they begin to question themselves. 
The Scripture says, "Know ye not . . . that Jesus 
Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?" (2 Cor. 13:5), 
He will not cast you off unless you turn away from him. 
You will not lose your job of serving him, unless you 
want to lose it. If you do something that causes him 
to discharge you, he will tell you plainly what it is. 
He will not leave you to guess and wonder. Obey him 
and trust him, and you will be his. 

He who has faith has both arms and armor. It is a 
defensive armor to shield us against our foe. In 
I Thess. 5 ; 8 Paul calls it a breastplate. In Eph. 
6:16 he says, "Above all, taking the shield of faith, 
wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts 
of the wicked." By this he means that faith is our 
principal protection. With his shield the ancient sol- 
dier stopped the arrows of his adversary, and with the 
shield of faith we may quench all the fiery darts that 
are shot at our souls and turn aside all the other things 
that would wound us. This is how we should use it 
for defense: Disbelieve all that contradicts God — cir- 
cumstances, people, feeling, or whatever it may be. God 
is true no matter who or what may testify to the con- 
trary nor how strong that testimony. If God is true, 
that which is contrary to that which he says is false, 



S96 Winning a Crown 

and we should treat it as being false. It is by faith that 
we stand (Rom. 11 : 20). We may be sure of one thing; 
that is, that we shall never fall by faith. We may fall 
by unbelief, but never by faith. No soul ever went down 
trusting. Take God at his word. You need not worry 
about falling. Just believe. God has promised to pro- 
tect you. If you will build a form about you with your 
faith, God will pour in the concrete until he has made 
a solid, impenetrable wall all around you. 

Faith is not only our armor, but also our weapons of 
offense. John said, "This is the victory that over- 
eometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that over- 
cometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is 
the Son of God?" (1 John 5:4<, 5). In the eleventh 
chapter of Hebrews we find a list of some of the won- 
derful things wrought through faith. Through it armies 
were put to flight, the dead brought to life, and great 
obstacles overcome. It is our surest weapon. Let us 
arm ourselves with it and go forward to victory. 

There is one foundation upon which we can build 
which will never yield. Jude speaks of it thus: "But 
ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy 
faith" (verse 20). All other virtues must be built 
upon this foundation. It is the only foundation for 
Christian character or Christian attainment. There is 
no solid foundation but this. It alone will stand the 
tests of life's storms. Do you want to live a victorious 
life? Faith is the victory. As long as you have faith, 
you have victory, and you will keep the victory until 



Faith— Continued 297 

you surrender yovir faith. Therefore hold fast your 
faith and confidence in God and in yourself. 

There are liind ranees to faith. We may either hinder 
or help our faith. One way in which it is often hindered 
is by making the promise mean some one else instead of 
us. It is often easier to have faith for others than 
for ourselves, or it seems to be easier. It looks very 
reasonable that God would answer the prayers of others. 
The promise means others ; of course it does. But it 
means us just as well. We should not think that it is 
easier for others to have faith than it is for us. We 
should not think that God is more likely to answer 
others than he is to answer us. God wants us to have 
confidence in our own prayers. He wants us to believe 
that he will do as much for us as for others, and that 
his promise means us just as well as any one else. His 
promise does mean us. God is no respecter of persons. 
If our hearts are true to him, he will hear us just as 
quickly as he will hear any one else. Do not let your- 
self get the idea that your prayers will not be heard 
as surely as the prayers of others. If you do, it will 
be a hindrance to your faith. It is not true. God gives 
the promise to us as well as to any one else, and he 
wants us to look upon it that way, and act upon it that 
way. Your prayers are just as acceptable as the pray- 
ers of any other of God's children. He will be as true 
to his word in your case as in theirs. He will do for 
you what he will do for them, if you believe. God makes 
no difference between his children. He treats them all 
alike if they believe him alike and obey him alike. 



298 Winning a Crown 

Another hindrance to faith is the idea that some peo- 
ple have, that they must work themselves up to some 
emotional state or have some particular feeling, in order 
to be heard. There is a great difference between faith 
and emotion. It is faith that brings the answer. God's 
promises are true no matter how we feel about them. 
They are true absolutely and always, and they will 
be made effectual for us according to our needs if we 
will rely upon them. But God fulfils his promises in 
his own way. We must leave the choosing to him. But 
if we ask in a submissive way, he always answers more 
wisely than we ask. We must remember this one fact: 
that God will not take dictation from us as to how he 
shall answer. If we try to dictate to him, we only put 
a barrier in the way of his answering us. Therefore 
when you pray, pray submissively, "Not my will, but 
thine be done." 

Many people limit God in his answering, because 
they are so sure just how it ought to be that God must 
answer their way or not at all. Is our wisdom greater 
than God's.'' Do we know what ought to be better than 
he knows? Sometimes people will accept an answer 
only in the way that they want it. God sees that they 
are self-willed, and so he must deny them. We can 
not make God work according to our plan; we must 
work according to his. When we pray without sub- 
mitting to his will, or give him the privilege of answer- 
ing in his own way, we are wasting our time. Not only 
so, but we are developing rebellion in our hearts against 
God. He hates self-will and stubbornness. It shows 



Faith — Continued 399 

that we have more confidence in ourselves than in him. 

Confidence is the basis of faith. John says: "Beloved, 
if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence 
toward God. And whatsoever we ask, we receive of 
him, because we keep his commandments, and do those 
things that are pleasing in his sight" (1 John 3:21, 
'22). We can not have faith over sin in the heart. Sin 
is a barrier to faith unless there is repentance. The 
heart must be right or seeking to be right before faith 
can be effectual. Any unwillingness in our hearts to 
do all we know of the will of God or any drawing back 
from his commandments will act as a barrier to our faith. 
If our hearts bear us witness that we are doing the 
will of God so far as we know it, this will bring to us 
confidence. In this confidence we can approach God, 
knowing that he will hear us. Disobedience, or rebel- 
lion against anything that we know to be the will of 
God, is ruinous to faith, so that she can not soar upward. 
Hezekiah could pray to God with faith for his healing, 
only because of the fact that his heart testified to his 
uprightness of character and his whole-hearted obe- 
dience. 

Sometimes there are other things besides sin that 
hinder our confidence in ourselves before the Lord. 
Doubt, or anything that makes us question our standing, 
will hinder our faith. When anything comes up that 
makes us question ourselves, we ought to have it set- 
tled immediately, and not let it drag along to trouble 
us. It is our privilege to have such things settled with- 
out delay. When our good judgment tells us that we 



300 Winning a Crown 

have not sinned against the Lord, we ought not to let 
ourselves be troubled about other things. If God, for 
our profit, has chastised us, or Satan has brought a 
feeling of condemnation upon us, or whatever it may be 
that troubles us, it is our privilege to look to God 
through it all and count ourselves victorious. Such 
things need not be a hindrance to us if we will keep 
our confidence and our integrity stedfast. 

We also must have confidence in God. We may know 
from a reasonable standpoint that all God's promises 
are true and true for us, and still we may not have that 
assurance and that confidence in him which enables us 
to lay hold upon his promise and make it ours. Some- 
times we can not bring ourselves to feel the reality of 
his promises. This does not change them nor render 
them untrue. The question is not whether we feel that 
his promises are true, but whether we will believe they 
are true and appropriate them for ourselves. 

Looking at ourselves or our failures is also a great 
hindrance. There is a reason for every failure, but some 
things that are called failures are not failures at all. 
It is only God answering in a different way. There are 
many failures because people give up too soon. They 
are too quick to think that if others have failed they 
also are sure to fail. If you have failed in the past, 
it is not proof that you will do so now. If you know 
a reason for failure, get that reason out of the way; 
if you can find no reason for failure, press right on 
till you get what you desire. 

Another hindrance is trying to force faith. When we 



Faith — Continued SOI 

trr to force it beyond its natural limit, we weaken it. 
We do not need to nerve ourselves up to the highest 
pitch in order to have faith. In fact, that has nothing 
to do with faith. When faith works at all, it works 
easily and naturally, without any straining or forcing. 
God is true, he has promised, and we simpl}^ take it for 
granted that he will do as he has promised, and rely 
npon that. That is faith; that is a natural operation 
of faith; that is the way faith reaches results. We 
have to develop faith. Faith is not accidental. The 
conditions favorable or unfavorable to it are often of our 
own making. Spirituality is one necessary condition. 
A careless life is poor soil in which to develop faith. 
Anything that we can do to develop our spirituality and 
draw nearer to God will make faith work more naturally 
and will make it stronger and more effectual. Care- 
lessness in our living, neglect of prayer, and various 
other means hj which we are made less spiritual will 
react upon our faith. We may build a good founda- 
tion for future action of faith by reading the Scriptures 
and impressing forcibly upon our minds that "this prom- 
ise is true." Whenever a doubt comes to your mind, 
challenge it and overbalance it with the assertion that 
"God is true and his W^ord is true." This is the way 
to cure your doubts. You know that God is true. Meet 
every doubt with a positive assertion of his trueness. 
Make this your daily habit. Whenever the Word of 
God comes to your mind, refresh yourself with the 
thought of its absolute truthfulness. God is true, and 
God is true to you. Never give place to a suggestion to 



302 Winning a Crown 

the contrary, for it is not, and can not be, the truth. 
Follow out this plan of impressing upon your heart and 
mind that God is true and that his Word is true/ and 
you will find him becoming more and more real to you. 
Seeking should always he definite and persistent^ and 
always with a definite goal. To seek for a little while 
and then without an answer to give up seeking, weakens 
faith. Do not pray haphazardly, just saying words to 
fill space. We can commune with God, speaking out to 
him all that is in our hearts; but when it comes to the 
concentration of faith on some particular point to bring 
results, there must be earnest and definite action. The 
best way I know to increase faith is this: When you 
feel anything to be necessary or to be the will of God 
for you to have, go to asking him and keep right on 
till you get an answer. One answered prayer is worth 
more than a thousand prayers unanswered. Do not 
pray at random; always make your prayers definite. 
Put faith into them. Many prayers are prayed that peo- 
ple do not expect any answer to. They Avould be very 
much surprized at getting an answer. Why do they 
pray such prayers? Are not such prayers an insult 
to God? Do not play the fool with God. Do not ask 
a thing unless you mean it and want it and are willing 
to throw your faith into the seeking to get it. If you 
do not mean business, you had better keep quiet; and if 
you do mean business, keep on till you accomplish 
what you set out to do, or find a good reason for not 
doing so. If God shows that it is his will not to grant 



Faith — Continued 303 

what you ask, that is reason enough; but get an answer 
of some kind. 

Some get into trouble, and their faith fails, and they 
wonder why, when the real secret lies in their careless 
habits of prayer. They have formed a habit of praying 
for things a while and then giving up without an answer, 
and when they come to a place of real need, the habit 
of giving up asserts itself and faith fails. Continuity 
is a necessary quality of the faith that wins; continuity 
can be developed only by continual practise. Do not 
expect to develop faith in a crisis of need. God is often 
pleased to give us special faith for a special need; but 
in general he expects us to develop the faith we need 
through the daily use of what we already have. Do not 
look upon strong faith as a thing that is to you unat- 
tainable. It is unattainable only to those who are too 
indolent or too careless to do what is necessary to at- 
tain it. You will never find faith as you might find 
some one's lost purse. It will never come to you by 
accident. It is a thing that must be developed, and 
we must work with God to bring about that develop- 
ment. 

There are some people who were naturally strong 
in faith, but who in some way have become baffled in 
their faith. A reaction of some sort appears to have 
come upon them. They seem unable to rely upon the 
promises of God as they formerly did. In a way, they 
believe them just as much as they ever did, but they 
seem to have lost the power to grasp them and make 
them their own. Whatever may have been the cause 



304 Winning a Crown 

of the weakening of their faith, the important thing 
now is the restoration of that faith. This is sometimes 
very difficult. People in this condition ought to be 
treated with the greatest care and consideration. Con- 
demning them or blaming them will never help them 
out. The important thing is to find where the trouble 
is and to help them build up their faith again. I know 
something of this relaxation of faith by personal expe- 
rience, and I know that it can not be regained by radical 
action. As a rule, the recovery is gradual. People in 
this relaxed condition need our sympathy and our help 
rather than our condemnation. Their faith needs en- 
couragement, and it is only through this that it can over- 
come and rise to the normal again. 

There are two ways in which God answers prayer. 
One is that he hears our requests and gives immediately 
that which we desire. The other is that he grants our 
request and gives us the consciousness of such granting, 
but does not bestow the thing asked until a later time. 
To illustrate: A boy comes to his father and asks, 
"Father, will you let me have your knife?" The father 
says, "Yes, my son," and takes it from his pocket and 
gives it to him at once. Another child comes up to him 
and says, "Papa, will you get me a new hat.''" He 
says, "Yes, my son," but perhaps he does not purchase 
the new hat for a week or two. In both cases the re- 
quest is granted, but in one instance the asker gains 
immediate possession of the object desired, while in the 
other the asker does not receive the desired object at 
once. So sometimes when we come to God, he gives us 



Faith — Continued 305 

immediately what we ask of him ; we obtain possession of 
it at once. At other times we have the consciousness that 
he has granted our petition, but possibly we may have 
to wait some little time before the thing wanted actually 
comes into our possession, ^^^len it is granted, it is 
ours, in one respect, just as much as though we had it, 
but we do not have the joy of possession nor the use of 
the object until it is actually bestowed upon us. It 
is at this time — when we realize that our petition is 
granted and still we do not possess that which we de- 
sire — ^that we 'have need of patience, . . . that we 
might receive the promise.' Sometimes in praying for 
healing there is the assurance that God hears, that he 
is pleased to heal, and t consciousness that he is grant- 
ing our request; but at the same time there may be no 
manifestation of the healing power in our bodies. At 
such times we can confidently wait, looking forward to 
the coming of the healing. Of course, we do not have 
the healing in our possession until the work is wrought 
in our bodies, but the answer to our prayer may be 
granted. At such times we need only to have faith, 
and God will manifest himself in power to us when it 
is his good pleasure to do so. 

Faith and Testimony 

Overlooking the fact just stated, people sometimes 
get the evidence or assurance of their healing and tes- 
tify that they are healed when, in reality, there has been 
no change in their bodies. People look upon them and 
perceive no difference. They seem to be exactly as they 



S06 Winning a Crown 

were before, and they act the same as they did before, 
and still they claim to be healed. We are not really 
healed until the work is done in our bodies, though if 
God has answered our prayer, we are just as sure of 
the healing as if the work were already done. We ought, 
however, to be wise in our testimony. If God has given 
us the assurance of healing, let us testify to that as- 
surance. We can testify to what we have, and look 
with confidence and expectation to the coming of the 
healing power. We ought, however, to be careful as 
to the extent of our testimony, and not let it go beyond 
the mark. When God says yes to our prayers, we can 
rejoice in that, just as the little boy could rejoice at his 
father's promise to buy him a new hat; but he could not 
rejoice in its possession, and neither can we rejoice in 
possession until the thing desired is actually bestowed. 



Spiritual Retrogression 

That we are spiritual at one time does not guarantee 
that we shall always remain so. There may come, if we 
permit it, a time of retrogression. Onr zeal may flag, 
our love grow cold, and our interest may be lost, and 
we may become indifferent. "Therefore we ought to 
give the more earnest heed to the things that were 
heard, lest haply we drift away from them" (Heb. 
2: 1, A. S. v.). Water, when unconfined, always flows 
downhill, and so do the natural currents of life. Serv- 
ing the Lord, like any other good thing, requires exer- 
tion. If we grow careless and merely drift along, the 
current will always lead us farther away from God. 
Progress Godward is always progress upward. 

How many who once were afire for God are now cold 
nnd indifferent! How many who once were bright lights 
fire now only smoking wicks! Remember that what we 
once were does not give evidence of what we are now. 
Spiritual progress results from conformity to the laws 
of progress, and spiritual retrogression from lack of 
conformity to these laws. Physical growth is dependent 
upon the taking in and assimilation of new materials 
by an already organized structure. Spiritual growth 
depends upon our taking in spiritual materials and 
utilizing tliem properly in our development. We are 
commanded to be filled with the Spirit. If we keep so 
filled, there will be no retrogression. 

There are a number of things that contribute to drift- 
ing away from God. Let us consider some of them. 

307 



SOS Winning a Crown 

Neglect of prayer and of the reading of God's Word. 
When we neglect these, we can not but grow indifferent 
and fail to make spiritual progress. When we neglect 
these things^ we soon lose our relish for them; and 
when that relish is lost, it becomes still more easy to 
neglect them. In this way we shut up the channel of 
grace and thereby prevent its flowing into our hearts. 

Neglect of attending meetings. When people grow 
careless about assembling themselves with God's peo- 
ple, it is an evidence that they are drifting. Fervent 
love for God gives us a fervent love for his people; and 
a fervent love for them brings a fervent desire to be 
with them. A loss of interest, either through neglect 
or by letting another interest come in ahead of God, 
draws the soul away. We can prosper spiritually only 
so long as God has first place in our affections and first 
place in our interests. Beware of anything that comes 
between you and God, to draw your interest away from 
him. It will be ruinous to your soul. 

Drawing away from duty. When people are first 
saved, as a rule they have a great zeal to work for God. 
They prefer doing that to anything else. Their souls 
delight in it. It is their meat to do his will. So long 
as they are in this attitude, they will prosper; they 
will steadily grow in grace and in the knowledge of our 
Lord. But when their zeal begins to cool and their 
love becomes less strong, there is often a drawing back 
from duty. Before, they needed no urging; they were 
ready. Now, duty is irksome; they go about it reluc- 
tantly. They prefer that some one else work while 



Spiritual Retrogression S09 

they look on. They serve God from a sense of duty 
rather than from a sense of love. If we saw these things 
in their right aspect and their true meaning, we should 
see them as great danger-posts along the way warning 
us of the trouble aliead. Such a change always indicates 
spiritual retrogression. It shows that the soul, instead 
of becoming more spiritual, is becoming less so. 

Hardening the conscience until it loses its tender- 
ness toward God, and so becoming careless in life. In 
the beginning of our new-born life, we have a tender 
conscience toward God. We ought to care for this ten- 
der conscience. We ought to follow it carefully, and 
keep it tender toward God. It must, however, be reg- 
ulated by common sense and good judgment, or it will 
become a tyrant and rule our lives in a way to make 
us miserable. This is quite different from having that 
careful, earnest desire to please God. When we are 
drifting, we are not so much concerned about pleasing 
God as we were before, and we become more concerned 
about pleasing ourselves. Beware of the increase of this 
self-pleasing disposition. It is always a mark of spir- 
itual degeneration. 

Self-indulgence. No matter what direction this may 
take, it is sure to bring evil results. Partaking of 
worldly amusements, allowing pride to come into the 
soul and gratifying it with worldly apparel, luxurious 
living, and all similar things are destructive to spir- 
ituality. 

Going back on our obligationt. When we make God 
a promise to do something he asks of us, he expects 



810 Winning a Crown 

us to live up to it; and not only does he expect it, but 
he will require it. Therefore, if we draw back from 
that which we have promised him, or if we withhold 
from him the service that we have promised him, we 
shall do it at great cost to our souls. There are thou- 
sands of souls who draw back in this way. They make 
promises to God, and when they make them, they mean 
to fulfil them; but as time goes on and they do not ful- 
fil them, they grow careless about it, or indifferent, or 
unwilling, or for some other reason fail to perform what 
they promised. They draw back from being wholly the 
Lord's. They want to do something for themselves. 
They want to choose their own way and make their own 
plans. God, of course, permits them to do this, but it 
is at the loss of their spirituality and of his blessing 
upon their souls. In the end, if they persist, it will 
mean their eternal ruin. 

Oh, beware of drifting! Beware of carelessness and 
neglect. Beware of drawing back from what you have 
promised God. Beware of anything and everything that 
makes you less spiritual. Keep this thought in mind: 
You have but one chance to gain heaven. If you miss 
that one chance, you have missed all. Press forward; 
make some gain each day. You will not be able to 
see that you have made a gain every day, but if you 
walk humbly before God and do your duty, lovingly 
and faithfully, you will each day draw a little nearer 
God. He has said, "Draw nigh to God, and he will 
draw nigh to you." Every step we make toward God, he 
makes a step toward us. It is jiist like walking toward 



spiritual Reti'Ogression 811 

your reflection in a mirror. Every time you step to- 
ward your reflection, it seems to step toward you, so 
that one step brings you two steps nearer. Just so 
each step you take toward God brings him two steps 
nearer you. 



Backsliding and Fainting 

"Backsliding" is sometimes used in the sense of spir- 
itual retrogression, but in this chapter I shall use the 
word in its fuller sensc^ applying it to the result of 
that retrogression — the severance of the soul from God. 
The backslider, in this sense, is one who has lost his 
spiritual life. Jeremiah defines backsliding as sinning 
against God. "For our backslidings are many; we have 
sinned against thee" (Jer. 14:7). It means that the 
heart has turned away from God. "And the Lord was 
angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned from 
the Lord God of Israel" (1 Kings 11:9). It is re- 
jecting God. "Thou hast rejected me, saith Jehovah. 
Thou art gone backward" (Jer. 15:6, A. S. V.). It 
is forsaking God. "Thine own wickedness shall cor- 
rect thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know 
therefore and see that it is an evil thing and a bitter, 
that thou hast forsaken Jehovah thy God, and that 
my fear is not in thee" (Jer. 2: 19). It is a turning 
away from one's righteousness. "When a righteous man 
doth turn from his righteousness, and conunit iniquity, 
and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die" 
(Ezek. 3:20). These scriptures and many others show 
that it is possible for a soul that has once known God 
to turn away from him, to sin against him, and to be 
cut off from him, to lose what spiritual life he had and 
to become an outcast from God. There are multitudes 
of religious professors in that condition today. They 
were once saved; the glory of God was once in their 

312 



Backsliding and Fainting SIS 

hearts; his sweet peace abode with them. But now, 
alas ! their hearts are cold and lifeless ; the Spirit of 
God has gone from them ; they have a name to live, 
but arc dead. 

There is another state of the soul, called "fainting" 
in the Bible, that should be carefully distinguished 
from backsliding. To draw this distinction is my pres- 
ent purpose. In appearance fainting is very much like 
death. I remember that in my school-days a girl fainted 
on the playground. The other children came running 
around, and some said, "She is dead; she is dead." We 
older ones knew better, but the children did not know 
better. I have known many instances when people 
who had merely fainted spiritually, were supposed to 
be dead and were treated as though they were dead. I 
have known of hundreds of people who came to the 
altar, supposing that they were backsliders, but who 
were not backsliders at all, as a little inquiry into their 
cases revealed. They were not cut off from God. They 
had simply let down in their faith, had given up their 
confidence, and had begun to suppose that they were 
cut off from God. Many times these fainting souls are 
treated as backsliders. They are taught to seek God 
again, to repent, to "begin at the bottom," as it is said. 
This treatment has resulted in many a soul's losing con- 
fidence in God and getting into a place where it can 
never be certain as to its standing before God, except 
when it is under the influence of a joyful emotion. The 
only thing that will cut a soul off from God is actual 
sin, a wilful departure from the commands of God. 



S14 Winning a Crown 

Some people are harassed much of the time by a 
feeling that they have done something that is not right. 
Their various troubles bring them into condemnation, 
and they question their standing before God. If God 
chastizes them a little or permits them to pass through 
a trial for a time, or they do not feel just as they think 
they ought, they do not know whether they are saved 
or not. There is nothing else that can so torture a soul 
as this fear and uncertainty. 

Perhaps a little of my own personal experience will 
help some soul. When I was first saved I formed in 
my mind an ideal standard of life. When forgiven, I 
had very strong emotions of joy. My cup ran over with 
praises. I had never known that one could be so un- 
speakably happy. For weeks I seemed to walk on 
air. I supposed that this was the normal state of a 
Christian and expected it to continue permanently. But 
presently these emotions subsided. I began to question 
myself, "What have I done to grieve or offend the 
Lord?" I could think of nothing, but I reasoned that 
there must be something wrong or I should still have 
those joyful feelings. I began to let doubts come in, 
and they, of course, helped to depress my emotions. 
Thus, I was still further alarmed. I took refuge in 
prayer and prayed until my former feelings were re- 
stored. Faith mounted up, and I went along rejoicing. 
A little later my joy subsided again, and I began ques- 
tioning myself: "I must have done something, or the 
joy would not have departed." My conscience seemed 
to trouble me and say, "That must be it." Then I tried 



Backsliding and Fainting S15 

to repent, and prayed until at last my joy returned. 

My conscience became very sensitive. It would con- 
demn me for things which I now know did not affect my 
standing with God, but which at that time threw me 
into doubting and distress and sometimes nearly into 
despair. I would feel so discouraged that I felt that 
it was of no use to try any longer. It was only a great 
determination not to give up trying that kept me going 
on. Sometimes I was tortured almost to distraction by 
the doubts and fears that my sensitive conscience brought 
upon me. Sometimes I would go to meeting and have 
joyous seasons, and my confidence would be strong; but 
more than once I was hardly out of sight of the place 
of worship until I felt miserable again. This alternation 
of joy and distress was repeated again and again. While 
joy lasted, faith seemed strong; but when joy sub- 
sided^ my faith was gone, and my conscience would be- 
gin to lash me. Years passed before I learned the 
lesson of true faith and brought my conscience to the 
place where it would allow me to be judged by the Word 
of God and to hold fast my confidence through every test 
of emotion. I did not give up, but many times I should 
not have had faith to testify that I was saved if I had 
been pressed to declare myself. 

Under the influence of discouragement resulting from 
the lashings of a morbid conscience or bad feelings or 
something of the sort, many persons surrender their 
faith and give up counting themselves the Lord's. They 
have not sinned, so far as they know; but their faith 
fails. They reason that they must be wrong, and so 



S16 Winning a Crown 

they give up the fight and count themselves backsliders. 
They have a tender conscience toward God; they vrould 
not do anything wrong for the world. They desire to 
be right and to please the Lord; their hearts have not 
turned away from him at all. They have simply sur- 
rendered their faith. They are not backsliders at all. 
They belong to the Lord just as much as they ever did. 
All they need to do is to let their faith take hold anew, 
and when they again count themselves as God's, they 
will find that the ties that bound them to him have never 
really been severed. Just to give up to discouragement 
this way is not backsliding. It is what the Bible means 
by the word "fainting." Some give up their sanctifica- 
tion in the same way. But that does not bring impurity 
into their hearts. All that is needful to restore their 
confidence is that they believe as they did before. 

You may say that you have no evidence. If you are 
doubting, of course, you will not have any assurance. 
The Bible says, "He that believeth . . . hath the wit- 
ness" (1 John 5:10). It does not say that he that 
doubteth shall have the witness. You can have the 
witness in your soul only so long as you are believing. 
Doubts silence the voice of God's testimony in the heart. 
They "ground" the wire, so that no message reaches us. 
He may be speaking to us, but our doubts prevent our 
hearing. To give up under the influence of doubts is 
not sin, nor does it make us sinners. To count our- 
selves sinners when God does not, does not cut us off 
from him. It only excites his pity. It is always dan- 
gerous to give up our confidence; for the discouragement 



Backsliding and Fainting 317 

that comes weakens us so that we can not so well resist 
temptation and may easily fall into sin. But unless 
we do thus go into sin, we have only to go to believing, 
just to take hold where we let go, to be victorious again. 

I remember a preacher who, when he found persons 
in this state or condition, or bothered until they hardly 
knew where they were, w^ould say, "Well, if you were 
out in the woods and did not know where you were, 
would you not conclude that you were lost?" So he 
would call upon them to repent, counting them sinners. 
That preacher was sincere ; he thought he was doing 
just what he ought to do. His unwise dealing with such 
souls was due to a lack of understanding. In his mental 
picture of men, one was either victorious or backslidden. 
He knew nothing about what the Bible means by faint- 
ing. He is not alone in this. There are many who can 
not distinguish a soul who has merely fainted from one 
who has backslidden. A backslider, as already shown, 
is one who has turned away from his righteousness and 
from God and gone into sin. One who has fainted is 
one who has just given up and has not sinned. The 
former must forsake sin, repent, and believe God for 
pardon. The latter should count himself the Lord's 
as before, and all will be well. 

An experience I once had with a woman illustrates 
this point very well. Hearing that she was having 
some spiritual trouble, I visited her and saw very clearly 
that her only trouble arose from her doubts. I en- 
couraged her to believe that God still accepted her, and 
she seemed to grasp the idea and act upon it so far as 



318 Winning a Crown 

she could at the time. A few days later in a meeting 
where there was considerable manifestation of joyful 
emotion and where a number of sinners were seeking the 
Lord, I found her among the seekers. She was weeping 
and praying the Lord to have mercy upon her. When 
I recognized her, I went to her and said, "Sister, what 
are you doing here? Get right up and go away and 
begin resisting the devil as you ought to do." She 
looked at me in astonishment and started to obey my 
imperative command. She arose to her feet and turned 
around to go, whereupon the glory of the Lord fell 
upon her, and she began to shout for joy. If this course 
were followed in a wise way with many souls, they 
would regain their confidence without having to look 
back upon themselves as having backslidden. We must 
learn to diagnose cases as accurately as a good physi- 
cian, or we may give the wrong remedy, to the lasting 
hurt of the patient. 

Why People Faint 

When Jacob's sons returned from Egypt and told 
him of Joseph and his position there, "Jacob's heart 
fainted, for he believed them not" (Gen. 45:26). Un- 
belief produces the same eifect spiritually. Anything 
that causes us to let go our faith will bring fainting. 
wSorrow is also a cause for fainting. "When I would 
comfort myself against sorrow, my heart is faint in 
me" (Jer. 8: 18). Anything that causes discouragement 
reacts on faith and causes us to faint if we yield to its 
influence. \\Tien people faint spiritually, they feel just 



Backsliding and Fainting 319 

as Jonah did when he fainted literally. He "wished 
in himself to die, and said, It is better for me to die 
than to live" (Jonah 4:8). Many persons have felt 
exactly this way because of their spiritual troubles. 

There is an unfailing remedy for fainting. It never 
fails to prevent when used in time, and it is a cure when 
we have fainted. David said, "I had fainted, unless 
I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord" (Psa. 
27: 13). Wihen people do not hold fast their faith, they 
can not see the manifestation of the goodness of the 
Lord in coming to their help. If they will hold fast 
their trust, he will bring them safely through. But 
instead of holding fast, many people heed the sugges- 
tion of the enemy, "You might as well give up." They 
listen, are convinced, and act upon his advice. Thus, 
they take the worst possible way out of their trouble, 
and then, instead of getting out, onl}^ find themselves 
in deeper. O soul, do not faint at your tribulations, but 
trust God, and he will not fail you. He is watching 
over you. He will let the fire become just hot enough 
to take out the dross. It will refine you, but not de- 
stroy you. You will only be the better for those tests 
of life. God may have to reprove and chasten you, but 
that will not be for your destruction, but for your profit. 
Believe in God; believe in your own integrity. Hold 
fast your confidence, and you will never faint. It' you 
have fainted, begin to believe again, and your spirit 
will revive as did the heart of Jacob when he believed 
(Read Gen. 45:27, 28). 

Even if we should turn away from our righteousness 



320 Winning a Crown 

and commit sin^ our case is not hopeless yet. We have 
an advocate with the Father, even Christ Jesus, our 
Lord. God is still merciful. His mercy will not fail 
us if we shall truly repent. Sometimes people get to 
thinking that they have sinned against the Holy Spirit, 
and that consequently there is no salvation for them. 
There is one infallible test. It will settle every case. 
When a soul has any disposition to repent, or any de- 
sire to get back in favor with God, and a disposition 
to confess to him and serve him, he has not sinned against 
the Holy Spirit. It is said of those who have backslid- 
den and sinned against the Holy Spirit and counted the 
blood of Christ an unholy thing that "it is impossible 
. . , to renew them again unto repentance" (Heb. 
6:6). This is the key of the whole matter. The 
trouble is that they have gone so far in their sins that 
they no longer have any disposition to repent. There 
is no penitence in their hearts. They are not sorry that 
they have done what they have done. Never let yourself 
be troubled about having sinned against the Holy Ghost 
when you know that there is a disposition in your heart 
to please the Lord. In fact, the very feeling that j^ou 
experience, that perhaps you have sinned against the 
Holy Ghost, is sure proof that you have not done so. 
I have seen persons who were almost in despair because 
of the feeling that they had sinned against the Holy 
Spirit and could not be forgiven. They would go on 
from day to day grieving and grieving over it, when 
if they had understood their own hearts, they would 
have known that the very grief which they felt over 



Backslidin-g and Fainting S21 

their supposed sin against the Holy Ghost was an ab- 
solute proof that they had not sinned against him. A 
man who has really sinned against the Holy Ghost is 
not concerned about getting back to God. 

All other sin is forgivable. And if we do sin, we may 
find mercy and restoration to the joys of God's salvation 
if we will repent and believe. All sins do not have the 
same effect upon the soul, though every sin brings 
guilt. Some sin because of being overcome by an mi- 
expected temptation. They are taken unawares and 
yield before they hardly realize it. Their conscience at 
once feels the sting of guilt. They feel immediately 
penitent. They are conscience-stricken and full of re- 
morse. They immediately regret the step that they 
have taken, and would undo it instantly if it were in 
their power. Under such conditions, restoration to the 
favor of God is very easily obtained. There has been 
no hardening of the heart against God. There has been 
no thinking over the question, and so there has been no 
real turning away of their hearts from God. They 
yielded under such pressure as Peter did in the palace 
of the high priest. His courage failed him in a crit- 
ical moment, and he weakly yielded. His repentance 
followed with equal rapidity. 

Sometimes the will consents to do evil through per- 
suasion or through yielding to a powerful and long- 
continued force. Under such conditions the will may 
gradually yield, but finally gives up its resistance and 
does the things asked of it, or the things which it is 
influenced to do. When it yields, it is involved in guilt, 



322 Winning a Crown 

and that guilt is more serious than the guilt previously 
mentioned. This time the will has not been taken un- 
awares. It has had opportunity to summon its reserve 
forces and keep on saying no, and so to overcome. In 
such a case repentance may be immediate or not, de- 
pending somewhat on circumstances. But whether the 
person repents at once or procrastinates, this case is 
more serious than the other, because the will is involved 
in a more vital way. In other instances people just 
go into sin deliberately through their own volition. The 
desire to do the thing arises in their hearts, and they 
da it, despising God's law. They do it with their eyes 
wide open to all the consequences. This kind of sin is 
terrible in its nature. Oftentimes the sinner has no 
feeling of penitence, and oftentimes he will have trouble 
to bring himself to submit to God. But the greatest sin 
of all is the neglect or refusal to repent when sin is 
done, to let sin go on for months not repented of. Such 
a sin is utterly inexcusable. If you have sinned, repent 
at once. Seek God*s mercy at once, and you shall find 
it. Harden not your heart by delay. Grieve not the 
Holy Spirit. Impenitence or persistence in refusal to 
repent hardens the heart as nothing else can and mul- 
tiplies the guilt enormously; 



The Crucified Life 

"Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will 
come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his 
cross^ and follow me. For whosoever will save his life 
shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake 
shall find it" (Matt. 16:24, 25). This saying of Jesus 
has been so little understood through the ages that peo- 
ple have come to have the idea that to take up one's 
cross and follow Jesus is to do those religious duties 
that fall to their lot through life. They speak of bear- 
ing the cross as meaning witnessing for Christ, praying 
in public, or doing some other religious duty. This 
idea could arise only from a total misconception of the 
meaning of Christ's words. We are to take up our cross 
and follow him. We all know what happened when he 
took his cross. He went forth on the "way of sorrows'* 
bearing his cross outside the city, and there, on Cal- 
vary, he was laid upon it and nailed to it and raised up 
between the heaven and the earth. Upon it he suffered 
and bled and died. He was then taken off the cross, 
because the cross had for him no further meaning. It 
had done its work. The full measure of the hatred 
of his enemies had been poured out upon him there. 

The crosses that were made were for just one pur- 
pose: they were for people to die upon. Your cross 
and my cr©ss is for us to die upon. It is not something 
that we should carry through life. It is not some bur- 
den that we should bear in our Christian journey. It 
is not some duty that we should do. It is not some 

323 



324 Winning a Crown 

penance that we should perform. ^Vhenever the Scrip- 
tures say anything about the cross, it carries with it the 
idea of dying. It is true in the text quoted above: 
'^Whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whoso- 
ever will lose his life for my sake shall find it." Christ 
means exactly what he says in these words. He expects 
us to lose our lives for him. If we do lose our lives for 
him, he will give to us that life which is eternal. So he 
who refuses to take up his cross and go to his Calvary 
and suffer the crucifixion and death of which Jesus here 
speaks, will lose his life, that is, he will never have 
eternal life. It is only by giving that we save. It is 
only by dying that we live. Christ died that we might 
live, and now we are to die in order that he may live in 
us. Let us get away once for all from that old idea 
that bearing the cross is doing Christian service. It is 
nothing of the kind. The cross is to die upon. If you 
do not die upon your cross, it will avail you no more to 
carry it through life than it would have availed you had 
Christ carried his cross around through life and never 
died, upon it. So it is not carrying the cross that counts ; 
it is dying upon the cross. 

Paul speaks of the same thing. He says, "But God 
forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our 
Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto 
me, and I unto the world" (Gal. 6:14). Again, he 
says, "And they that are Christ's have crucified the 
flesh with its affections and lusts" (chap. 5:24). In 
the next verse he says, "If we live in the Spirit, let 
us also walk in the Spirit." He elaborates this idea 



The Crucified Life 8^5 

still further in chapter 2:20 — "I am crucified with 
Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth 
in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live 
by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave 
himself for me." 

There are three main ideas involved in these scrip- 
tures — first, the crucifixion; second, the death which it 
brings ; and third, the life to which we are raised through 
Christ, and in the newness of which we walk before 
him. Speaking further on this, Paul says, **For in 
that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, 
he liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves 
to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through 
Jesus Christ our Lord" (Rom. 6:10, 11). The matter 
of becoming a Christian is not merely turning over a 
new leaf. It is not merely forming good resolutions. 
It is not merely joining church. It is not merely be- 
ginning to do religious duties. It is a death. It is a 
death as real as the death of Christ. It is a crucifixion 
as real as his crucifixion. It is being raised to walk in 
newness of life just as really as he was raised from 
death. There is no use in mincing words about this. 
If we have not been crucified, if we have not died with 
him, and if we have not been resurrected with him, we 
are not his. 

We are told to reckon ourselves dead indeed unto 
sin. What does this mean.'' It means that our lives 
shall be as free from sin as though we were really 
dead and now lying in our graves. It means an abso- 
lute shutting out of all sin from the life. It means this. 



826- Winning a Crown 

because that new life which comes to us from Jesus 
Christ is no longer the old self-life that loved the things 
of the world. We commit sin only when we love sin. 
Christians do not love sin; they hate it. We can not 
always tell what a man is by the label he bears. There 
are a multitude of people who call themselves Chris- 
tians who bear no resemblance to Christ in their lives. 
John says of a true Christian, "As he [Christ] is, so 
are we in this world" (1 John 4: 17). Those who are 
crucified to the world cease to love the world. Those 
who still love the world have not been crucified to the 
world. John says, '*Love not the world, neither the 
things that are in the world. If any man love the world, 
the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in 
the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, 
and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the 
world" (1 John 2: 15, 16). Again, we read, "Know 
ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with 
God.'' whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world 
is the enemy of God" (Jas. 4:4). They who still love 
the pride and vanity of the world, they who are ab- 
sorbed in its frivolities, they who covet its gold and 
its honor, they who love its applause — these are they 
who have not yet died to the world. A worldly professor 
is a disgrace to God, to himself, to the people among 
whom he worships, and to the community in which he 
lives. The woman who arrays herself in the para- 
phernalia of worldly fashions and decks herself in gold 
and jewels and the finery that pride calls for, and at 
the same time calls herself a follower of Christ, insults 



The Crucified Life 887 

her Lord every time she does so. A Christian is one 
who is Christlike in character, in desire, and in deport- 
ment. No other has any right to bear Christ's name. 
If all preachers had honesty enough and courage enough 
to preach the truth, the tide of worldliness that is over- 
whelming such a multitude of souls and sweeping them 
into perdition would be stayed, and to be a Christian 
would mean very much more than it now does to the 
world at large. As long as preachers allow their ser- 
mons to be dictated by public sentiment or the worldly 
desires of their hearers, they will cater to fashion, and 
souls by the million will drift on to hell. Oh, what a 
reaping such preachers will ha vie at the judgment! 

What does it mean to be a true minister of Christ? 
God said to Ezekiel, "Hear the word at my mouth, and 
give them warning from me" (Ezek. 3: 17). To Isaiah 
he said, **Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like 
a trumpet, and show my people their transgression, and 
the house of Jacob their sins" (Isa. 58:1). To Jere- 
miah he said, "He that hath my word, let him speak 
my word faithfully" (Jer. 23:28). He also told Ezek- 
iel that if the watchman did not warn those who were in 
danger He would require their blood at his hands. 
The full measure of God's wrath will fall on those who 
fail to be true to souls and to God in preaching those 
truths the Bible clearly teaches against sin and world- 
liness. He who has not courage to preach these truths 
now will not have courage to face the judgment. 

Those hypocritical professors who bear Christ's name 
but will not obey him, but dishonor him and by their 



828 Winning a Crown 

example influence others to do the same, how shall they 
escape the damnation of hell? If there is one thing 
that God hates above all else, it is a proud and worldly- 
heart. Such a heart can never be a reverential heart. 
Its religion is but hypocrisy. It is only a sham. It has 
no reality. It is merely in word, while in deed they 
deny him. It is only a cloak of respectability, while 
the heart is full of corruption. 

What do such professors know of the love of God? 
What do they know of the sweetness of fellowship and 
communion with him? What do they know of the joys 
of salvation, or of the blessed hope that anchors the 
soul in God? What do they know of that grace which 
sweetens the bitter cup of sorrow, or of the comfort 
of God's love? Nothing whatever. Their lives are 
empty and graceless. Those who make a profession 
of religion for the sake of personal advantage or busi- 
ness gain, or for respectability, or as a cloak for their 
deceit, are sowing that which will bring them a fearful 
harvest of woe in eternity. Everybody hates the hypo- 
crite. Even the hypocrite hates another hypo- 
crite, and in his more sincere moments he must hate his 
own hypocrisy. 

There is no excuse for any one to profess to be a 
Christian who does not live the kind of life and have 
the kind of character that the Bible shows to be the 
true test of one's acceptance with God. The way is so 
plain that even a fool may understand it if he will. God 
declares that people are left without excuse. They 
can know how they ought to live if they will read their 



The Crucified Life S29 

Bibles^ and they may have grace to live such a life if 
they will abandon their worldliness and sin and seek 
God till they find him. 

The Christian life is, and ever will be, a life of 
separation from sin and pride and worldliness. If you 
are not willing to be thus separated, you should have 
common honesty enough not to profess to be what you 
very well know that you are not. If you are going to 
be a Christian in name, be one in reality. Only the 
genuine metal will stand the test of the judgment. Your 
character, not your profession, will be what will count 
then, and it is what counts now. It will be your Chris- 
tian character, not your morality, that will count too. 
Many people pride themselves on their morality and 
their careful observance of conventionalities, whose 
hearts are vile and sinful before God. It is not alone 
that outward immorality, such as licentiousness, drunk- 
enness, profanity, etc., that marks the great sinner; 
there are many things that are hidden to the eyes of 
the world, and many things that are considered quite re- 
spectable, that are just as bad in God's sight, and dis- 
grace the person in his eyes just as much as these 
grosser things. Morality is like a marble statue, cold 
and lifeless; Christianity is warm and vibrant with the 
very life of God. It is God dwelling in us, living his 
own life there, and impressing his own character and 
likeness upon our souls and our lives. Christianity is 
not a form; it is a life. It is not in word, but in vital 
power. It is not a profession, but a divine possession. 

We are told that our citizenship is in heaven (Phil. 



S80 Winning a Crown 

S : 20, A. S. v.). A true Christian is a citizen of that 
heavenly country. It sometimes meant much to Paul 
to be able to say that he was a Roman citizen. Roman 
citizenship was a thing of dignity and honor, and it 
gave him privileges that he could not otherwise have 
enjoyed. But he rejoiced far more in his heavenly cit- 
izenship and in the privileges that that citizenship 
brought to him. The life of a citizen of heaven should 
correspond to that of the people of his own country, and 
not to that of the foreigners and strangers among whom 
he is sojourning. "Be not conformed to this world," 
is the command of our Lord. I think one of the most 
pitiable things that we can behold in this world is one 
who talks like a Christian but lives like a sinner, one 
who professes to be a citizen of the kingdom of God 
and yet lives like one who is a citizen of the kingdom of 
Satan. Peter says of those who are true Christians, 
"Ye are an elect race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, 
a people for God's own possession'* (1 Pet. 2:9, A. S. 
v.). They are sacred vessels into which God pours 
his grace. They are the chosen ones to whom he reveals 
himself. They are the kingly priesthood who see the 
glory of his majesty. They are the precious jewels 
that adorn his kingdom. They eat of the bread from 
heaven, the old wine and oil, and honey out of the rock. 
They drink of the river of his pleasures. They bear his 
mark upon their foreheads and upon their hearts. They 
have a conscience void of offense toward God and man. 
Their souls are the dwelling-place oi the mighty God. 
To be a real Christian is something very high and 



The Crucified Life SS\ 

very sw«et. He walks in a path that "the vulture's 
eye hath not seen." In joy fulness he mounts up with 
wings as an eagle. The worldly professor fills his days 
with folly. His cup of joy is always bitter at the last. 
He gathers up the "fool's gold" that glitters in earthly 
things. He lives after the flesh and after the world. 
He goes with the crowd. He misses all those good things 
that he might have if he would only really consent to 
be crucified with Christ. He misses all the blessedness 
of righteousness, and, worst of all, he misses heaven at 
the last. 

O soul, have you been crucified with Christ? Are 
you dead to the world, so that you have no relish for 
its follies, its fashions, its sinful pleasures, and its ap- 
plause? Do you care more for your reputation with 
God than you do for your standing with men ? Are you 
out and out for God, or are you going hand in hand 
with the world? Do you know that your name is writ- 
ten just now in the Lamb's book of life. If others fol- 
low closely the example that you are setting before 
them, will they be on safe ground? If you were to die 
just now, would you be fit to enter heaven? Face the 
issue squarely. Are you a real true Christian? Have 
you been crucified with him? Is he just now living in 
you his own innocent, pure, holy life? Do not be a 
mere counterfeit which will be rejected at last. It means 
a great deal to be a real Christian, worthy of the con- 
fidence of God and the world, but it means a great 
deal not to be such. You may be a whole-hearted Chris- 
tian if you will. But there is only one road that leads 



882 Winning a Crown 

to the exalted plane on which such Christians live; and 
that is by way of Calvary and the cross. You must 
take up your cross and bear it to Calvary and there die 
upon it if you are ever to have the life of Christ abide 
in you. But if you will really die to the world, to the 
flesh, and to the follies of this life, you need know 
nothing further of heavy crosses. Your shoulders need 
never again feel its burden, but you may look forward 
to that bright crown which awaits all those who have 
been crucified with Christ and are risen to walk in 
newness of life. 



Three Spiritual Elements 

There are three elements that operate in the spiritual 
world. They are the divine, the human, and the Satanic. 
The Bible recognizes these three elements, or instru- 
mentalities working to produce the spiritual results 
that we see. Nothing is more clearly taught in the 
Bible than the personality of God and of the angels who 
do his will. Likewise, Satan is, all through the Bible, 
a personality, and the demons that do his will are also 
spoken of in a way that makes it plain to us that they 
too are personal beings. These good and evil person- 
alities exist as really as man exists and are just as per- 
sonal. Man is capable of having definite relationship 
with any of these personalities, whether the good or the 
bad. He is capable of working with them to a certain 
end, or of working against them to a certain other end. 
He may work with the divine to carry out the will of 
God, or he may work with the evil personalities to 
carry out evil things. Any one of these three ele- 
ments may work independently, so that a thing may be 
of God independent of man and the devil, or it may be 
of the devil independent of God or man, or it may be 
of man independent of God or the devil. 

True religion is of God, but it also involves man. 
Therefore the human element will always enter more or 
less into our religion. The vital elements of religion 
are from God, but when these vital elements, or powers, 
work in man, they do not coerce his will. They do not 
overcome his personality. They do not take possession 

333 



$34! Winning a Crown 

of him so as to rule him. He does not come under rule ; 
he still acts voluntarily. This human element in religion 
shows itself in peculiar manifestations, customs, ideas, 
and forms. When the Spirit of God comes into a man, 
he manifests himself in different ways, but especially 
in a holy Christian character and a holy Christian life. 
His presence affects all the faculties of man, but the 
outward expression of these effects are not particularly 
of the Holy Ghost. They are rather of man. All who 
are saved have in them the same divine element operat- 
ing to produce the same results. The external mani- 
festations of this working depends largely upon the 
temperament of the human. One manifests his joy by 
shouting, another laughs, another weeps, another sits 
quietly with shining eyes and glowing countenance. But 
these manifestations are merely the human expression 
of the inward joy. During the centuries, man*s spiritual 
emotions have been manifested in a great variety of 
ways. Special religious movements have been noted for 
the special manifestations among them. Some move- 
ments have been noted for shoutings; others, for wild 
demonstrations of many different kinds. People often 
suppose these outward demonstrations to be the work of 
God. If they were of God, he would manifest himself 
in a more uniform manner. There would be none of 
those extreme and unbecoming demonstrations that are 
sometimes seen among religious people. Man may make 
these demonstrations as a result of his own choice and 
enthusiasm, or under the influence of the Spirit of God, 
though we must never blame God for the manner or the 



Three Spiritual Elements . SS5 

extent of such manifestations. If a Christian lets his 
emotions or his enthusiasm run away with his judgment 
and acts unseemly, we must lay the blame upon the 
human element. It is the man, not his God, nor his 
religion necessarily, that is at fault. Satan also op- 
erates on people to produce wild, emotional excitement, 
and in some movements he is the principal cause of the 
emotionalism. Especially is this true when the life of 
the person is immoral. The jerking, contortions, "fall- 
ing under the power," etc., that characterize certain 
brands of religion are usually of Satan and man, though 
sometimes it may be only of man, he abandoning him- 
self to his emotions to such an extent that nervous reac- 
tion sets in. It is safe to reject these things from our 
consideration of the work of God. We must place them 
in some other category. 

The variation of religious customs and forms in the 
world are the outcropping of the human element. God 
did not give us a definite program of religious worship, 
nor did he introduce any of the prevailing religious 
customs, except those specifically named in the New 
Testament. Those since introduced are of man, and 
should always be distinguished from the real and vital 
elements of religion. I do not mean to condemn all that 
is of man as being evil, A thing must be judged by its 
intrinsic value, not by its origin. Man's works may be 
either good or evil, either wise or unwise. 

The many religious ideas and doctrines in the world 
are of various origin. Some are directly of God, some 
are "doctrines of devils,** and some arc of men. The 



336 Winning a Crown 

varying and often contradictouF^ doctrines taught in the 
world that are supposed by their adherents to be the 
revelation of divine truth come largely from man's im- 
perfect conception of truth. Sometimes God is blamed 
for this doctrinal confusion and discord, but we must 
remember that God has given the same revelation of 
himself and his truth to us all, and that it is only man's 
misinterpretation of this revelation that makes the dis- 
cord. It is true that some teach special doctrines 
through perversity, others through an unwillingness to 
teach the truth because they are not willing to obey it. 
But for this we must blame man, not God. God's truth 
is one; he is not the author of the babel of religious 
teachings in the world. It is highly important, then, 
that we learn what is the real truth among the clashing 
doctrines of men. 

It is the human element that differentiates between 
religious movements. The leader usually impresses his 
own thoughts, views, customs, and temperamental pe- 
culiarities upon the movement that he heads. We have 
only to look into the past a little to see this. All men 
who have the religion of Christ have the same vital 
power of godliness working in them. They all have the 
same salvation, but they have different ways of mani- 
festing it. The old Puritans were austere and high in 
their morality. They were formal and rigid. Their 
religion had in it much of the nature of iron. Then 
came Fox with his quietism. His morality was just as 
high, but it took a very different course. Instead of 
being formal, like Puritanism, it. went to the opposite 



Three Spiritual Elements 3S7 

extreme of having almost no form. It was meditative, 
quiet, and non-resistant. Methodism was radically dif- 
ferent from both of these, it being emotional and noisy 
and demonstrative. Its devotees sometimes went to ex- 
tremes that were unseemly. The Scotch Covenanters 
were worthy people, but they differed widely from many 
others. It was one Spirit that operated in all these 
movements, and he operated in them alike so far as 
people would permit it. These great differences in man- 
ners, customs, views, and manifestations must be at- 
tributed to the human element that entered so largely 
into them. 

The same thing may be observed among modern 
Christians. There are still "shouting Methodists" and 
quiet Quakers, and formal, orderly Presbyterians. No 
matter how much of God one of these may have in him, 
the effect of the influence or sentiment at work in the 
particular movement has a strong influence upon his 
actions. His tendency is always to act according to 
the forms of the movement with which he is familiar. 

This human element is a variable quantity. It may 
or may not obstruct the working of the divine, but in 
many instances the divine is greatly limited or even 
entirely crowded out by it, so that the religion becomes 
only a human thing, while the soul is empty of God. 
There is such a thing as a religion that is of man and 
has none of the divine element in it. Those professing 
it have never been born again. God has never entered 
into their lives. They simply joined church, and that 



388 Winning a Crown 

was all there was to it. Their religion is wholly of and 
from themselves, and will die with them. 

When we meet people and recognize them as heing 
Christians, yet see that they are different from us, 
that difference may be attributed to the human element. 
It can not be a spiritual difference if both have the Spirit 
of Christ. God draws all Christians together. He 
gives them all one Spirit. He gives them the tie of 
love that binds them to one another. The things that 
divide them are those human forms and views and cus- 
toms which they have accepted. Where there is ani- 
mosity and contention and bitterness, the Satanic ele- 
ment enters and Grod is shut out. God wants his people 
to be all one. He is not so concerned that they should 
be all alike in these human elements, for that is hardly 
possible and not to be expected; but he does want the 
divine element to have so large a place in our lives and 
so to dominate the human element that his people will 
be of one heart and soul in him, and that there will be 
no division among them. We may teach unity all we 
will, but if there is in us elements that are of a nature 
to separate us from other Christians, even if these 
should be only human elements, they will be a barrier 
to the realization of a practical unity. Unity must have 
for its basis only spiritual elements. To make the 
human element in any wise the standard is to make real 
unity impossible, except among those who are alike in 
the human element. We should recognize the fact that 
a general uniting of Christians must be built on the 
foundation of the divine element, and that this must be 



Three Spiritual Elements SS9 

clearly separated in mind and heart from the human 
element and held as a separate thing. So long as any 
particular form or custom or any special manifesta- 
tion is a part of the standard around which Christians 
are called to rally, *^here will be those who will find 
themselves unable to accept that part of it, no matter 
how much they may desire unity. 

There is also a human fellowship. Those who are 
in the same human element or influence have the fel- 
lowship of the movement with each other and do not 
have it with any one outside the movement, even though 
they have spiritual fellowship with him. People chang- 
ing from one movement to another carry this human 
influence with them, and are marked by it so that they 
are sometimes suspected and held aloof. 

Satan is always ready to take advantage of this hu- 
man element to make it work out his purpose. He works 
to make us think that humanly devised forms or customs 
are things of vital importance. In fact, some of these 
ai:e much harder to break away from than we suppose 
them to be. They take deeper hold upon us many times 
than divine truth. People feel as though they would be 
giving up their religion if they should surrender these 
forms. A particular mode of dress becomes sacred; a 
particular form of service becomes exalted above all 
other forms. It is only when we recognize these as 
being merely human things and as having no vital 
connection with Biblical truth that we are in a position 
to look at things from a broad enough standpoint to 
stretch out our hands equally to other Christians. If 



340 Winning a Crown 

we become wedded to our forms and customs, Satan is 
likely to use the fascination that they possess for us 
to keep us from having the confidence that we ought to 
have in other Christians. Let us look away from these 
things back to the fundamentals of Christian doctrine 
and life. These, and these alone, can be the basis for 
the acceptance of Christian profession. These alone 
can be the common grounds upon which all Christians 
can meet. Let us look away from ourselves and from 
these toys which we have whittled out for ourselves. 
If we have labeled these things Christianity, let us tear 
off the labels, and see that henceforth we call nothing 
Christian but that which is fundamentally divine work- 
ing out through the human, or has its origin in God him- 
self. Do the best we will, there will be more or less 
of the human element in our religion. But let us deal 
with it as the human element and not as the divine. Let 
us give it its due Weight, but no greater weight than 
it is worthy of receiving. 



Trials 

Daniel said, "Many shall be purified, and made 
white, and tried" (chap. 12:10). All Christians are 
glad that they are purified and made white, but when 
it comes to being tried, that is a very different thing. 
They shrink from the very word. Their trials are to 
them as a nightmare from which they would gladly 
escape. But trials are only a part of God's process of 
preparing us for heaven, and they are as needful to 
us as is the blessing, in order that we may be prepared 
for our glorious eternal habitation. 

The peaceful, quiet waters soon lose their freshness 
and become stagnant; the clearness is soon gone, and 
they are filled with germs. Soon a green scum covers 
the top, and they become foul and odorous. Quiet air 
becomes stagnant. The smoke, the dust, the odors, and 
the miasma rising from swamps and bogs would soon 
render quiet air unfit for breathing, and instead of be- 
ing a life-giving tonic, it would become a life-destroying 
poison. God has arranged the operation of natural 
forces so that there is unceasing motion. The warm 
air rises, the cold air falls. The gentle breezes blow, 
and swell into great gales and terrible hurricanes. These 
latter may be very destructive in their action, but they 
work out a good by purifying the air. They scatter 
the noxious poisons far and wide, and carry in pure air 
to take the place of these. The waters of the sea are 
driven and tossed and dashed against the rocks. The 
sea is ever restless. Its waves are never still. No 

S41 



842 Winning a Crowm. 

matter how calm the day, the ripples are ever breaking 
upon the shore. Were it not for motion, for the storms 
and currents, the whole ocean would become stagnant 
as a pond. The same thing is true in a large measure in 
our lives. The storms and difficulties and obstacles all 
work out for our good if we meet them as we should. 
Through them our lives are enriched and ennobled and 
developed. They are blessings to us, though they may 
seem to be blessings very much disguised. 

Sources of Trials 

Many trials are only the natural result of circum- 
stances. Sometimes circumstances are in our favor, and 
work for our happiness, peace, and contentment. Some- 
times we have smooth sailing, and everything goes 
pleasantly. We are courageous and confident and re- 
joicing. The sun shines brightly out of a cloudless sky, 
and every prospect seems fair. But this does not al- 
ways last. Sooner or later the clouds must come and the 
storm-winds beat upon us. We must have the rough 
weather as well as the pleasant, the storm as well as the 
calm. The sunshine and the calm are very needful in 
life, and they work out a definite and good purpose; 
but the storms and the rain and the wind are likewise 
needed; they also fulfil their purpose. Trials will come; 
we can not evade them. We can not look ahead into the 
future; so we may plan and build, up hopes, only to 
have our air-castles come crashing down around our 
heads. If we have set our hearts upon these things, we 



Trials «48 

are likely to look very gloomily upon their wreck and 
to feel very bad over the result. 

If we permit ourselves to give way and grieve over 
the failure of our plans and hopes, we may make our- 
selves and those around us miserable. Sometimes peo- 
ple let go their hold on God just because they do not 
get their way in things. They let disappointment so 
discourage them that they just give up trying to do 
right. That is acting like a spoiled child. If our plans 
and hopes fail, God will not fail. Sometimes it is a real 
blessing to us that they do fail; for God can plan far 
wiser for us than we can for ourselves, and we ourselves 
can act more wisely after we have failed than we did 
before. Never fret on account of disappointments. They 
grow rapidly under such treatment, both in size and in 
intensity. 

Losses may come to us; our property may be swept 
away or burned up. If we have our hearts set upon 
our possessions, this may touch a tender spot, and we 
may let it darken our lives and make us morose and dis- 
satisiied. Poverty may come and the many difficulties 
incident thereto. How greatly such things may try us 
will depend upon how much we rebel against the cir- 
cumstances or how easily we submit to and adapt our- 
selves to the inevitable. How greatly we are affected 
by our trials depends on how much we open our hearts 
to them and encourage them. 

Sickness may lay its heavy hand upon us or our loved 
ones, and try every fiber of our being. It may play upon 
the chords of pain a threnody that thrills with exquisite 



S44 Winning a Crown 

torture, or it may fire our blood with fever until the 
sparkle has gone from the eye and the glow of health 
from the cheek, or it may bind us in chains helplessly 
captive. Death may come and take those dear by the 
ties of nature or friendship and leave sorrow and grief 
to be our companions. These things try the soul, but 
they must be borne. We can not escape such things, 
for they are the common heritage of those who dwell 
in tabernacles of clay. They belong to mortality and 
to the mutable things of time. 

There are trials that come to us as the result of the 
acts or attitude of others. How few are man's kind- 
nesses to man ! How great his inhumanity ! How much 
of the human distress is needless and comes only by 
the inconsiderate or evil acts of others! Christ said 
that we should not marvel if the world should hate us. 
Neither should we marvel if it should act out its hatred 
in malicious persecution. Our Lord has told us that 
offenses must come. To be a Christian means to be a 
target for the world's hatred. We can count this a part 
of our heritage. Sometimes we shall have cruel mock- 
ings and have our names cast out as evil. We can not 
endure these things without some sense of pain. How 
much we suffer under them will depend on how we meet 
them. If we praise God and go resolutely on our way, 
strength will be given us, and we shall overcome, and 
instead of hindering us, persecution will bring us rich 
treasures of grace and blessing. 

Sometimes we may be tried over what others do when 
they have no thought or intention of causing us a trial. 



Trials 845 

and perhaps are wholly ignorant that they are causing 
us to be tried. Very often people allow themselves to 
be tried when the thing need not be a trial if they will 
hold the right attitude toward the supposed offender. 
We can let ourselves be tried over trifles if we will, 
when if we would act as a real man or woman, we could 
pass over them quite easily and do it joyously and not 
suffer to amount to anything. The trouble with so 
many is that they are like petulant children, who are 
hurt or displeased at almost anything. If some one 
has really done something on purpose to try you, you 
should not give him the satisfaction of knowing that 
it hurt. Keep the hurt out of sight. Hide it away and 
overcome it, and, if possible, let it be known to none but 
God. Bear with meekness what happens. Pray for 
your persecutors. That is the surest way to keep God 
in your own heart. "Father, forgive them," is the plea 
that takes the sting out of persecution. 

Some trials come directly from Satan. For some rea- 
son we are left liable to his attacks. He attacked Job, 
destroyed his children, his possessions, and his health, 
God could shut him clear away from this world, just as 
he has shut him away from heaven, if he chose. But 
for some purpose he sees fit to let us be exposed to his 
attacks here. Many persons feel like a little boy who 
once said: "Mother, I wish God would kill the devil. 
Why doesn't he do it? I would if I were big enough." 

Satan is limited in his work against us, and God is 
ever on our part, so that he can never go beyond God's 
will for us, so long as we leave ourselves in God's hands 



846 Winning a Cronn 

and rely upon him for the needed help. God does see 
fit sometimes to let him try us severely, but there never 
need be any cause for despair. God will not suffer us 
to be tempted more than we are able to bear. If Satan 
makes the temptation, God makes the way out. Some- 
times he does not let us see the way out, even when he 
has prepared it, and we have to resist and endure the 
temptation until he sees that it has gone far enough. 
Then he shows us the way out. Sometimes he will take 
us and lift us clear out of it by his own hand. At other 
times he will put our adversary to flight. Our part is 
to endure and trust; God's part is to make the way of 
escape. We must endure patiently until our deliverance 
comes. 

Sometimes God himself tries or proves us. *'I will 
bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them 
as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried" 
(Zech. 13: 9). The purpose of God's trying us is often 
that we may know ourselves. If we become self-suffi- 
cient, or go to rejoicing in our own works, he will likely 
send upon us or permit to come upon us something that 
will bring us to know our insufficiency and need of help 
from him. Danger is often the only thing that can help 
us to know our own weakness ; so God often lets a danger 
come in order to bring us to our senses. We should not 
let such a thing discourage us, but get the lesson that 
our strength is from him and that our best efforts, tf 
merely of ourselves, can avail little. He who trusts in 
himself leans on a broken reed. He who trusts in God 
has strength enough for his needs. 



Trials 847 

God sometimes tries us that we may know him bet- 
ter. He wants us to know just how dearly he loves us, 
and how earnest is his care for us, and how faithful he 
is to us; and so he lets every hope and resource fail us 
and distress fall upon us. When everything fails, and 
we turn to him, how real is his help! how sweet is his 
comfort! If, however, when we find ourselves in such 
a situation, we despair and give up, we lose the blessed- 
ness that he was preparing us for. We grieve his lov- 
ing heart and cheat ourselves. Hold fast and wait 
for him to work out his purpose. He afflicts only to 
heal. He grieves only to turn the grief to rejoicing, 
and to give greater rejoicing than could come through 
any other means. Our trials are the root upon which 
our blessings grow. These roots may be bitter, but the 
fruit is sure to be sweet if we patiently wait for its 
maturing. Too many want the fruits of joy, but are 
not willing to have the trial. Many choice fruits grow 
on thorny trees, and he who will gather the fruit may 
expect to be pricked now and then by the thorns. 

But the trials that are hardest to bear are the ones 
that we bring upon ourselves. Many people suffer as 
a result of their own indiscretion. They act unwisely 
or unbecomingly, and people buffet them for their faults. 
They are ridiculed or condemned; their names are on 
the tongue of the gossip, and they have no one to 
blame but themselves. If we do not act wisely op 
worthily, we need not expect to have the confidence and 
esteem of others. If we are buffeted for our faults, the 
only Christian thing to do is to endure with meekness 



348 Winning a Crown 

and patience and try to do better next time. This is 
one kind of trial that is always bitter medicine. It brings 
no joy. The best thing we can do is to take our bitter 
medicine and make no wry faces about it. 

We sometimes do things or say things that bring heav- 
iness upon us. We heap blame and condemnation upon 
ourselves. We feel regret and sorrow, and can not get 
done chiding ourselves. How many of these self-made 
trials could be avoided if we would be careful always 
to watch ourselves and to think of the outcome before 
we speak or act. When we have brought such a trial 
upon ourselves, we can only brace up and endure it man- 
fully. We need to learn well our lesson, but we need 
not let ourselves be crushed under it. Do not let your- 
self brood over it. Brooding will not help matters. Re- 
solve to do better next time and ask God to help you. 
Rise above the trial. If you have learned your lesson, 
God will help you out. He does not want to bruise 
you over it. He may chasten you sorely, but he will 
do it for your profit, not for your destruction. 

Effects on the Sennbilities 

The effect of trials on our sensibilities is often very 
great. Our feelings become deeply involved, and this 
is what makes trials hard to bear. Our feelings respond 
to them, and sometimes the result is great distress. If 
we permit these feelings to have their way, we may suf- 
fer a great deal in a trial. Some let their feelings have 
full freedom of action at such a time, and therefore 
the trial affects them powerfully. It is within our power 



Triah 849 

to limit our feelings to a very great extent. We can 
give way to them and greatly increase them, or we can 
set ourselves resolutely to modify and control them, and 
we shall be able to do it, and thereby greatly lessen the 
effect of the trial upon our sensibilities. Keep your 
mind off your troubles. Resolve to be happy in spite of 
them. Think of things that will make you feel bet- 
ter. Take hold of yourself and say: "Here! I will 
not feel this way. I will control myself and not give 
way to my emotions." Get your mind busy on other 
things. Get your hands busy with labor. Do not let 
your trials get too close to you. Do not make friends 
of them. No matter how beautiful may be the scenery 
around you, you can hold a small, ugly object before 
your eyes and hide all the beauty, and see nothing but 
the object at which you gaze. So it is with our trials. 
If we let them hold our attention, if we look at them 
all the time, they will shut out all the beauties of life 
about us, and will come to be the greatest things in our 
lives, even though in reality they may be very small 
and insignificant things. There are people who allow 
their minds to be taken up largely by their trials. They 
are continually thinking over them and worrying over 
them. Their faces are clouded by them. They sigh 
and groan. When they testify, it is to tell what a hard, 
rough path they have been having. In such cases, the 
person is making his own hard paths. 

Trials need not be allowed to take the sweetness out 
of life; +hey need not be allowed to shut out all the 
light and beauty of life. God does not intend that they 



350 Winning a Crown 

shall. Paul speaks of being "exceedingly joyful" in 
all his tribulations. He had plenty of tribulations, but 
he met them like a man^ and instead of letting them get 
him down, he got his feet upon them and mastered 
them. The first step in mastering a trial is to master 
yourself. Gain control of your feelings. I do not say 
that you can feel as you will, but you can prevent your- 
self from feeling as bad as you would feel if you would 
give way to your feelings. Do not act like a hurt child 
and go around trying to get people to sympathize with 
you. Do not waste any time pitying yourself. Act like 
a full-grown man or woman. Act as if you had some 
courage and fortitude. Face the situation manfully. 
You can do it if you will. Summon your resolution. 
Stand your ground against these things. Look to God 
and expect his help. You can overcome just as easily 
as others do if you will. 



Trials — Continued 
What Makes Them Hard to Bear 

Giving way to our feelings and letting them have 
their way is not the only thing that makes trials hard 
to bear. It is one of the chief things, but there are other 
things that add to the hardness of bearing trials. First, 
there is love of ease, and unwillingness to suffer. The 
flesh naturally loves an easy time. It seeks pleasure 
and self-gratification. Anything that goes contrary to 
such is unpleasant to it, and it is likely to rebel against 
it. If we give the flesh its way, trials will be very hard 
for us. No matter what trials may come, it will make 
us shrink from them and rebel against them. Life has 
both its bitter and its sweet. We need not always expect 
to have the sweet alone. We can not have the capacity 
to enjoy without also having the capacity to suffer. Suf- 
fering is just as needful in our lives as enjoyment, and 
sometimes serves an even better purpose. If we are 
unwilling to suffer and in consequence begin to kick 
against the goads, we shall soon find ourselves wounded 
and our sufferings increased. This unwillingness to 
suffer keeps many people out of the pleasure which 
God would give them if they would only let him give 
them the preparation to receive it. But they draw back. 
They are not willing to suffer. When trials come, they 
rebel against them. 

"We count them happy which endure" (Jas. 5:11). 
But the class of people I am describing can not look 

351 



S52 Winning a Crown 

upon endurance in this light. There is no happiness in 
it to them. There is no pleasantness to them. No mat- 
ter, what good comes to them through trials, they want 
it some other way. But trials will come anyway. They 
can not escape them. The only thing they will do hy 
rebelling will be to increase their suffering in the trials 
and prevent themselves from getting the blessedness 
out of them. We ought to be willing to suffer when it 
is God's will for us to suffer, or when he sees it is neces- 
sary for us to suffer. Our Master drank the cup of suf- 
fering even though it was bitter. Are we better than 
he? Shall we refuse to go by the path that led him to 
glory? 

Another thing that makes trials hard to bear is fear 
of being overcome by them. When trials come to some, 
the first thing they think of is, "Shall I be able to 
endure them? Shall I be overcome in it?" They 
are all the time fearing and worrying, lest they 
should not be able to go through it. This fear itself is 
a source of weakness. It also increases the suffering 
that results from trials. When you add fear to your 
trials, you double their size and weight. Why should 
you fear? Is not God upon his throne? Is he not 
watching over your life? Does he not know just how 
much you can endure? Will he let the fire be too 
hot? Will he let distress be too great? Will he fail 
you in anything? He says, "Fear not, for I am with 
thee." If you are disposed to fear your trials, a good 
thing to do is to. collect a large number of the promises 
of God's help from the Bible, Write them do^vn on a 



Trials — Continued 95S 

piece of paper, and keep them handr, and when yotl 
sec a trial coming or realize that it is already upon you, 
and your fears begin to arise, get your list of promises 
and begin reading tl)em over. Read them carefully 
and thoughtfully. Read them as being true. Remem- 
ber that God stands back of each of them, and stands 
back of it to make it true for you. The trouble is that 
when people get to viewing their trials, they keep look- 
ing at their trials and not looking to God. They do not 
look at the promises. They forget all about them. And 
so the more they fear, the more troubled they become. 
There are a thousand promises that apply to your case. 
There are a thousand promises that meet your daily 
need, and not one of all those promises will fail. 

Another thing that makes trials hard to bear is un- 
belief. God's promises will amount to nothing for us 
unless we believe them and appropriate them unto our- 
selves. They are true for us whether we believe them 
or not, but they do not become effective for us until we 
believe them. If you do not believe that God will help 
bear your trials, then you must take the whole weight 
of them upon yourself. If you do not believe that he 
will give you victory in them, then you must fight through 
to victory in your own strength. If you do not believe 
that victory is to be the outcome for you, your unbe- 
lief will be a source of weakness to you, so that you 
will not have the confidence that you need to carry you 
through. Unbelief is your greatest enemy. Unbelief 
will cloud your whole sky and shut out the sunlight, 
and will close the channel of God's grace, so that it can 



S54 Winning a Crown 

not be supplied to meet your needs. Unbelief will darken 
your mind and your heart. It will whisper in your 
cars that the situation is hopeless, that it is of no use 
to try. Unbelief is Satan's strongest ally. Shut your 
heart to it, and believe with all your strength that God 
is true and that God is true to you. This is only assert- 
ing the truth; there is no make-believe about it. His 
trueness is just as real as your existence. You may 
have his help if you will believe, but if you will still 
abide in unbelief, you must fight your battles and get 
out the easiest way you can. And that easiest way will 
often be a hard one. How much better to believe God 
and take his way and his help ! 

Another thing that makes our trials hard to bear is 
struggling to escape from them. The question with so 
many when they are in trial is : "How can I get out of 
this.^ How can I overcome it.'' How can I get to the 
end of it?" They will take almost any way out of it, 
just so they get out quick. The easiest way out is not 
always the best way out. Trying to get out in what 
seems to be the easiest way oftentimes gets us in the 
deeper, and makes the trial the more bitter. The only 
safe way is to submit to God and let him bring us through 
in the way that he sees fit. He knows the best way. He 
knows just what we can endure. He knows just what 
is needed. He sees the end from the beginning. He 
knows how we are going to get through it. He knows 
what the outcome will be and what a blessing he has in 
store for us at the end of the trial. But if we try to 
get out of the trial without passing through it, we arc 



Tfials — Continued S55 

sure to miss the blessing in the end. It is the blessing 
that God wants us to have and that is what we need. 
If you struggle out of the trial without getting the les- 
son and the blessing, God may have to let it come again. 
He may have to let it be repeated again and again, un- 
til you submit to his will and have wrought in you the 
thing that is needful. You have seen a child with a 
splinter in its finger. When some one would go to pick 
it out, the child would jump and jerk and scream as 
though being dreadfully hurt, when probably the af- 
fected part had not been touched. Some act in this way 
toward God. It only hinders him and only hinders 
you. Hold still. If there is a splinter that must be 
picked out of your finger, let him have his way about 
it. Hold still until he finishes the operation. If you do 
not, you will only make it hurt the more. 

Do not meet your trials with fear. Meet them cour- 
ageously. Do not dread them. Keep confident in God. 
Do not rebel against them. Submit yourself to the Lord. 
He will make all things work together for good to you. 

How Faith Sustains in Trial 

We are told that we stand by faith. Faith is the one 
thing that can sustain us through every peril and 
through every difficulty. I once stood upon the shore 
when the waves were dashing wildly against the rocks. 
A considerable distance from the shore I saw two ob- 
jects rising and falling upon the waves, but as I kept 
gazing at them, I observed a difference in their behavior. 
I soon saw that, while both were being tossed by the 



556 Winning a Crown 

waves, one was coming nearer me. It was being driven 
in toward the land, while the other remained in its posi- 
tion. One was a floating log; the other was a buoy. 
Every wave drove the log nearer shore, and I watched 
it until it was dashed against the rocks. The buoy still 
held its position. What was the difference between the 
two? The buoy was anchored; the log was not. The 
iron cable of the buoy took fast hold upon the bottom 
and held, no matter how the storm raged; but the un- 
anchored log was at the mercy of every wind and every 
wave. Which object represents us depends upon our 
faith. If our faith is anchored in God, we are like 
the buoy which, though tossed by the waves, though 
beaten by the storms, yet holds its position and can not 
be moved away. If we are not anchored by faith in 
God, we are like the log, and it will be no wonder indeed 
if we are dashed upon the rocks. 

The seaweed floats upon the surface of the water. It 
too is beaten by the storm and tossed by the waves, but 
it keeps its place; for down beneath the waves it has a 
sure grounding — by strong roots it is anchored to a 
rock. The storms may beat, the winds may blow, the 
waves may roll, but it holds fast, because it is fastened 
upon the rock. So God would have us rooted in him 
through faith. This faith will sustain us and hold us 
in our place in the wildest storms or the bitterest trial. 
Balance the trial by trust. As the trial increases, in- 
crease trust. The harder the trial comes upon us, the 
harder we should lean upon the Lord. He will sustain 
you if you trust, but he can not sustain you unless you 



Trials — Continued 857 

do. He may be ever so willing to help you, but if you 
do not trust him, you do not give him the opportunity to 
help you. 

We are not likely to be tried as hard as Job was. In 
fact, if we will compare our trials with his, we shall 
often feel ashamed to call them trials. Though Job was 
tempted to the limit and tried to the utmost, he was fully 
determined that his conduct should be righteous, and 
that not simply for a little while. Hear his expression 
of his determination: "All the while my breath is in 
me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils; my lips 
shall not speak wickedness, nor my tongue utter deceit. 
God forbid that I should justify you: till I die I will 
not remove mine integrity from me. My righteousness 
I hold fast, and will not let it go: my heart shall not 
reproach me so long as I live" (Job 27: S-6). Hear his 
testimony: **My foot has held his steps, his way have 
I kept, and not declined. Neither have I gone back 
from the commandment of his lips; I have esteemed the 
words of his mouth more than my necessary food" 
(chap. 28:11, 12). Through all his trials and afflic- 
tions, he stood stedfast and unmovable, glorifying God 
even when he could not pierce the darkness ahead of 
him, and when he could not understand the present, 
and when the past was unexplained and unexplainable. 
When his wife despaired, and his friends united in 
condemning him, still he held fast his integrity. His 
decision was not simply to hold on a little while and 
see if things would change. No, he intended to go 
through to the end, no matter what came. His decision 



^58 Winning a Crown 

was to be stedfast as long as he lived. Death was the 
only limit that he put upon his faithfulness. He might 
not be able to understand, but he would trust and keep 
true anyway. He might suffer, but he would not rebel. 
If he could not understand God's ways, he could un- 
derstand his duty, and he would do his duty, regardless 
of what happened. What a lesson of faithfulness and 
sted fastness ! We ought to be ashamed to let the few 
little trials that we have weaken our decision to serve 
the Lord and be true at any cost. What have we to 
endure compared with what he had? Let us be sted- 
fast, therefore, and keep right on, knowing that our 
God is our helper and that he will never fail us. 

Different Kinds of Trials 

Some trials test us in one way and some in another. 
Some test our courage. Satan sometimes tries to frighten 
us by making a great show of threatening. Sometimes 
he makes things look very dark. He whispers to us 
that we shall surely be overwhelmed. If we but have 
courage to meet these, we shall be able to overcome them. 
Often we have but to face them boldly in order to chase 
them off the ground and to stand victorious on the field 
of battle. Other trials test our faith. When sickness 
or disease takes hold of us, it is then that faith is tested. 
When the adversary tries to bring doubts in our minds 
about God's faithfulness or the truth of his Word, and 
the faithfulness of his people, then faith is the weapon 
that we need to use to overcome him. 

There are trials that test our loyalty. We are brought 



Trials — Continued 859 

face to face with the question whether we will be loyal 
to God and his truth, or whether we will take some seem- 
ingly easier way and compromise his truth for the sake 
of getting off easier ourselves. We are often put in a 
position where our loyalty is tested, where we have to 
stand right by the truth without deviating from it in 
the slightest degree, no matter what comes. Sometimes 
we must make a choice between Christ and our friends. 
The question is then one of loyalty. To whom shall 
we be true, Christ or our friends? To whom shall we 
submit ourselves, and whom shall we obey? He has 
said, "Be thou faithful unto death." Shall we do it? 
Shall we do it no matter what it means nor how long 
a struggle it means? The battle is half won when we 
are fully decided to stand loyal whatever comes. Bat- 
tles of this sort may be decided before we enter into 
them, and then we have only the fighting to do. The 
result is certain. The old saying, "Well begun is half 
done," is certainly true in the Christian life, especially 
when it comes to the matter of being decided to do the 
right and stand loyally by the truth whatever comes. 
There are things that test our humility. There are 
plenty of people who for their own purposes will flatter 
us and try to make us think that we are great person- 
ages or that we have done some great thing. They will 
praise us and "make over" us generally for some selfish 
purpose. If we heed what they say, we may become 
puffed up over it, and come to esteem ourselves more 
highly than we ought. If we do something that is praise- 
worthy, we very often find within ourselves a feeling 



§60 Winning a Crown 

of having done so well that we become elated over it. 
This also is a test of our humility. Let us keep our 
feet on the ground no matter how much God blesses us. 
No matter how much praise comes to us, no matter how 
many things are said in our favor, let us keep balanced, 
and let not our humility be turned into pride. 

There are things that test our love. Can we love God 
just as much after he has let us pass through a hard 
trial as we did before.^ If our brethren do something 
to wound us, can we still love them? If people mis- 
understand us and attribute wrong motives to us, can 
we still love them? These are the tests that count. 
These are the tests that test love. These are the things 
that prove whether it is genuine or not. If we are 
despised and persecuted, misrepresented and abused, can 
we still love? If people are our enemies, can we still 
love them? 

There are trials that test our sted fastness — whether 
we will just stand still and suffer and endure until God 
sees that it is enough and takes us out of the fire. Other 
things test our patience. These are often very small 
things, and the smaller they are, the more they test our 
patience. Sometimes we need to keep a good hold upon 
ourselves and "let patience have her perfect work," 
that we may be "perfect and entire, wanting nothing." 
No matter in what way we are tested, if we have a will 
to be true God will see to it that we have grace to trust 
him, so that we may overcome and be "more than con- 
querors through him that loved us" (Rom. 8:37). 



Trials — Continued 861 

The Value of Tiiak 

Peter tells us that the trial of our faith is "much 
more precious than the gold that perisheth, though it be 
tried with fire" (1 Pet. 1:7). The question that now 
confronts us is whether we place such a value as that 
upon our trials. What will men undergo to get gold? 
They will scale lofty mountains and wade through deep 
snows. They will face piercing winds and all sorts of 
perils, if they may but have the hope of getting gold. 
Our trials are still more precious than gold, and it seems 
that we ought to be willing to bear them when we view 
them from that standpoint. However, there are a great 
many Christians who shrink from trials. Why do they? 
If they believe that trials are so valuable, why do they 
shrink? Ah, that is the trouble: they do not believe 
what Peter said. They can see no gold in their trials. 
They see no value in them whatever. They are some- 
thing to be gotten away from. 

The trouble is that we often look at the wrong thing. 
If a man goes after gold and looks at the hardships in- 
stead of the gold, he will not get any gold. But the 
gold-hunter does not look at the things that lie between 
him and the precious metal. He looks at the gold. He 
keeps his mind and his heart upon that. He presses 
forward through everything to gain that gold. There 
is gold for you and me in every trial. The trial lies be- 
tween us and the gold. If we look at the trial, we may 
forget the gold, and that is just what is the trouble 
with so many. They can see nothing but the trials. 



^^2 Winning a Crown 

Beyond these lies the gold, yea, something far more 
precious than gold. Get your eyes off the trial. Look 
heyond it to the gold. Keep your mind and your heart 
set upon the gold^ and you will find that you can face 
the trial a great deal easier than if you saw nothing 
beyond it. The gold of Christian character comes only 
through stress and storm. Fair-weather Christians 
never amount to much for God or souls, nor do they 
develop rugged characters. They are always contented 
with little fruit. 

Results of Trials 

God always works out something worth while from our 
trials if we are true in them. He does not try us merely 
to be trying us. He has a definite purpose to accom- 
plish. Of Israel he said, "Who fed thee in the wilder, 
ness with manna, which thy fathers knew not, that he 
might humble thee, and that he might prove thee, to do 
thee good at thy latter end" (Deut. 8: 16). The hum- 
bling and the proving were only that he might do them 
good at the latter end. So it is with us: God humbles 
us and tries us just to do us good later. God*s pur- 
pose is also made very plain in the parable of the Figs 
in the twenty-fourth chapter of Jeremiah: "Thus saith 
the Lord, the God of Israel; Like these good figs, so 
will I acknowledge them that are carried away captive 
of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the 
land of the Chaldeans, for their good. For I will set 
mine eyes upon them for good, and I will bring them 
again to this land: and I will build them, and not pull 



Trials — Continued 868 

them down; and I will plant them, and not pluck them 
up. And I will give them an heart to know me, that I 
am the Lord: and they shall be my people, and I will 
be their God: for they shall return unto me with their 
whole heart" (verses 5-7). God did not permit them to 
be carried into captivity simply as a punishment. It 
was that, to be sure; but his purpose was greater and 
more kindly than that. It was that he might do them 
good — that they should turn to him with their whole 
heart, and that he should bring them back to their own 
land and make them a holier and more trusting people 
than before. 

Job knew the good that was going to come out of his 
trial, and he said, "He knoweth the way that I take: 
when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold" 
(Job 23:10). The Psalmist learned this same lesson. 
He says: **0 bless our God, ye people, and make the 
voice of his praise to be heard: which holdeth our soul 
in life, and suffereth not our feet to be moved. For thou, 
O God, hast proved us: thou hast tried us, as silver is 
tried. Thou broughtest us into the net; thou laidst 
affliction upon our loins. Thou hast caused men to ride 
over our heads ; we went through fire and through water : 
but thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place" (Psa. 
66: 8-12). This is the way the Bible speaks throughout 
when it speaks of trials well borne. We may get into 
a net, and affliction may be laid upon us; men may ride 
over our heads; we may go through fire and through 
water; but the outcome of it will be that we shall come 
out into a wealthy place. And then, like the Psalmist^ 



864 Winning a Crown 

we can say, "Oh, bless our God !" Take your Bible and 
read also Jas. 1: 12; 1 Pet. 1:7; and 4: 12, 13. 

There is another text that we shall do well to study 
over and over: "But we also rejoice in our tribulations: 
knowing that tribulation worketh sted fastness; and sted- 
fastness, approvedness ; and approvedness, hope: and 
hope putteth not to shame; because the love of God 
hath been shed abroad in our hearts" (Rom. 5:8-5, A. 
S. v.). "Tribulation worketh stedfastness.** Is not 
stedfastness that which we desire? Let us, then, bear 
tribulation. Stedfastness brings approvedness, and we 
desire to be approved. Approvedness in turn brings 
hope. Tribulation well borne, therefore, works out in 
all these things. 



How to Count 

Spiritual arithmetic is an important branch of stndy 
jor the Christian. He who is not able to count properly 
in the spiritual life may come to some very wrong con- 
clusions. It is important, therefore, that he give his 
attention to learning how to count accurately. If we do 
not learn to do this, we may fail in some critical mo- 
ment, or at least we may view things from our own 
standpoint and have wrong ideas concerning them. 
James gives us a problem in this spiritual arithmetic 
and tells us how to solve it. He says, "My brethren, 
count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations" 
(Jas. 1:2). Many people have tried to solve this prob- 
lem in their lives and have found that it did not work 
out according to the rule here enunciated. When they 
fell into divers temptations, they could not figure it out 
any way so as to make it come out joyful. The answer 
was something else always. 

I have seen people in such difficulties and have heard 
some say to them, "Oh, count it all joy, brother; count 
it all joy." They tried to do so, but for some reason 
they could find no joy at all. It felt more like sorrow 
and grief and disappointment and things of that nature. 
I have heard others in like situations say resignedly, 
"Oh, I am counting it all joy," and their countenances 
at the same time were witnesses against them, for these 
showed that their owners had no joy in it at all. 

When James said, "Count it all joy,** he did not 
mean that we should simply pretend that it was joy, but 

365 



366 Winning a Crown 

that it should really be joy. If we get the correct an- 
swer, it will be joy. There is a way in which we can 
work out these problems so that they will all come out 
joy. The reason that James could get joy for an answer 
is shown in the third verse: "Knowing this, that the 
trying of your faith worketh patience." He looked at 
the outcome, not at the thing itself. Paul expressed the 
idea when he said, "If so be that we suffer with him, 
that we may be also glorified together** (Rom. 8:17). 
The reason why he could count it joy was that he looked 
beyond the present and saw the glorifying together at 
the end. He continued, "For I reckon that the suffer- 
ings of this present time are not worthy to be compared 
with the glory that shall be revealed in us'* (verse 18). 
This is one thing that we must learn if we are going to 
find real joy as the answer in working out these prob- 
lems. If we leave out that which is coming as a result 
of them, we shall certainly miss finding any good or 
glorying in them. Paul said, "No chastening for the 
present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous.** He knew 
that the joy was not in the trial or in the chastening, 
but he further said, "Afterward it yieldeth the peace- 
able fruit of righteousness** (Heb. 12: 11). It was the 
"afterward** to which he looked. It is the "afterward** 
to which 3'^ou and I must look if we are to get the joy. 
There is one more thing that we must knovr if we 
are to get the right answer, and that is that there are 
three things which we must add to every trial in order 
to make the answer come out joy. If we fail to add 
any one of these, the answer will not be what we desire. 



How to Count 367 

They are submission, obedience, and faith. Add these 
to anything that comes upon you, and the result is bound 
to be joy. The first thing is to submit yourself to God's 
will in the matter. Let him have his way fully with 
you. Be willing to endure whatever is his will that you 
shall endure. Let him burn out the dross, if the fire 
must be hot. Let him work out his pleasure, for that is 
always "good pleasure." In whatever comes, obey him. 
If we disobey for any cause whatever; if we turn our 
back on his commandments and the things that we know 
he would have us do, we can not "count it all joy." 
There will be nothing joyful in it, no matter how hard 
we try to count it so. Then, as we obey and submit, we 
must believe — believe that he will take us through vic- 
toriously; believe that he is working out his purpose; 
believe that he will be true to us. Believing thus, trust- 
ing thus, we can have the victory through it, and there 
will be joy indeed for our hearts. We shall not have 
to count it joy and feel it something else, for God will 
make our feelings correspond with the fact, and it will 
be joy to us. The joy may not come until the end of 
the chastening; it may not come when we are overcoming 
the temptation; but joy will come in the end, and we 
shall see that the problem is worked out in a satisfactory 
manner, and we shall not have to count and make be- 
lieve that we have the answer desired, but we shall 
have it in the satisfaction of our own hearts. Let us 
look away from the toil to the reaping; and when at 
last we come with the reapers to that great harvest- 
home, we shall bring our sheaves with rejoicing, and 



S68 Winning a Crown 

wc shall enter into the joy of the Lord^ there to abide 
and to share in the pleasures that are at his right hand 
for ever more. 

Let us think more about the glory that shall be re- 
vealed in us. When our life on earth is over we shall 
forget about the toils, the hardships, and the disap- 
pointments along the way; and we shall join with the 
ransomed in the song of rejoicing and surround God's 
throne, and through the ages of eternity we shall thank 
God that he brought us by that rugged way that led 
upward and onward to the world eternal. We shall 
then never repine for the thorns that were along our 
way. We shall then rejoice that he counted us worthy 
to suffer for him. We shall then rejoice in him with 
"joy unspeakable and full of glory." Let us therefore 
press on. Let us not hesitate. 

Let us, therefore, press on with courage to the goal 
of life's race, where the heavenly hosts with harps at- 
tuned will greet our coming with anthems sweeter than 
any that ever fell on mortal ear, and where our glorious 
Redeemer will place upon each victor's brow a glittering 
diadem and will welcome him to life eternal in those 
mansions of resplendent beauty, where he may dwell 
content through ages without end. 



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